uiargonaut.com
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Protecting student privacy
STEAMINg THROUgH THE SNOw
Dean of Students, ITS team up to give students greater privacy Andrew Deskins Argonaut
uncomfortable about. He said there is currently an The University of Idaho opt-out option for stuInformation Technology dents who do not wish to Services department rolled be included in the directory. out changes Pitman to the student mentioned directory Jan. the last time 8 in order to the student better protect directory student We determined was actuprivacy. that other ally printed, D e a n 2009of Stu- institutions require in authentication 2010, the dents Bruce only inforPitman said information mation inhe decided to access their cluded was it was time to examine student directories name, email what other ... So that’s what we and major. “I don’t universities decided to pursue. know why do to protect Bruce Pitman, the other student Dean of Students information privacy after was added being contacted by several students in,” Pitman said. Management Informawho were uncomfortable with their phone numbers tion Services Manager and addresses being on Brian Borchers said they got to work after being the student directory. “We determined that contacted by the Dean other institutions require authentication information the changes. He said they to access their student di- wanted to initiate changes rectories, and that they did Jan. 4, but they ended up not include phone numbers taking effect Jan. 8. Borchers said it was and addresses,” Pitman said. “So that’s what we a simple process involving three steps: enabling decided to pursue.” Pitman said once they authentication protection, decided what course to encrypting the login data pursue they took their pro- and masking the phone posal to both ASUI and the numbers and addresses. Graduate and Professional After that he said they had Student Association. Both to test how the changes organizations said they worked on different web support increasing protec- browsers. University sophomore tions for student privacy. He said because stu- Liam Donohoe said he dents rarely take the time supports the changes to to update their informa- increase privacy, but he tion, the contact informa- thinks they will be a minor tion listed is often for their inconvenience. parents, something some students are particularly SEE PRIVACY, PAGE 4
Amrah Canul | Argonaut
Joel King, steam plant operator, ploughs snow in the parking lot of the University of Idaho steam plant. King said the plant is responsible for heating about 80 percent of the university.
Skipping steps Katy Sword Argonaut
When Microsoft decided to switch all live.edu email addresses over to its new Office 365 program, Chuck Lanham said the University of Idaho was required to make the switch as well. Lanham, UI information technology services assistant director, said the issue did not lie in the actual switchover, but in the execution and students’ interpretation. ASUI President Hannah Davis said ITS asked her when she thought making the switch would work best for students. She agreed after reading the instructions, Winter Break would be the best option. “I thought, ‘It seems pretty simple,’ but I received several emails not as ASUI president but as president of Delta Gamma asking how to do it,” Davis said. “I’m not going to
(email) and deleted the rest, but when it came time to do it I read the instructions and it was pretty simple.” Lanham said while early on there were some issues with Microsoft itself, the biggest issue was students not reading and following the instructions. “If I could answer (why students don’t read their email), I’d be a millionaire,” Lanham said. “It’s not just getting our students to read this email, it’s getting anyone to read any email or follow any instructions. I think in general people don’t tend to worry about reading things unless they can’t think it through.” He compared the situation to using a new coffee maker. He said most people will start pushing buttons before taking out the instructions and learning how to actually set up their machine.
What do you think of the process used during the VandalMail upgrade? Did you have any difficulties? “Most people don’t like change and that’s why they complain and are pessimistic when it occurs. I believe the change was for a good cause, now we have more message space on the new email system as well as other perks it has for the university.” Toluwannie Adécounlet
“Can’t they just keep one email system?”
Meghan Eaton
“I would prefer that they did upgrades over the summer and just had everybody change their passwords when they got back for fall semester; overall I feel like the migration to Office 365 was even more troublesome than the transition to Outlook.”
SEE STEPS, PAGE 4
Cody McClung
Research, reference, national recognition University of Idaho librarian Kathleen Monks accepted into national 2013 Emerging Leaders program Kaitlin Moroney Argonaut
She's not an elderly lady with glasses sitting behind the desk, shushing people and checking out books. Kathleen Monks is a librarian at the University of Idaho and has been nationally recognized through acceptance to the 2013 Emerging Leader's program. Put on by the American Library Association — the oldest and largest library association in the world — the Emerging Leaders program is for librarians who have been in years and are younger than 35. This is the third year in a row a UI librarian has been accepted into
the program. Monks said a large portion of her job involves research and providing service through working at state and national level associations as well as university committees. While she does staff the reference desk in the UI Library six to 10 hours a week, she all she does. “I'm also in charge of the College of Agriculture acquisitions, so buying their books and also introducing the faculty and teaching classes for them on library instruction,” Monks said. Through participating SEE RECOGNITION, PAGE 4
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Kathleen Monks, reference and instruction librarian, helps a student Monday in the University of Idaho Library. Monks was recently accepted into the American Library Association's 2013 Emerging Leader's Program.
In brief
State sues for summertime UI ROTC building fire A June 2011 fire at the University of Idaho Naval ROTC Science Building sparked the state of Idaho to sue the federal government for $1.6 million. State attorneys said members of the U.S. Navy’s Reserve Officers Training Corps negligently caused the UI fire during a student barbecue outside the building. The fire started after students dumped the ashes and briquettes from the barbecue into a flowerbed outside the building. The ashes set the flowerbed on fire, which spread to the building. The state is seeking $250,000 for the deductible it paid to the buildings insurer, Travelers Lloyds Insurance Co., and $1.4 million for repairs estimated by the insurance company. The state SEE BRIEFS, PAGE 4
IN THIS ISSUE
A late foul led to Idaho’s third conference loss of the season Saturday in the Cowan Spectrum.
Stay informed on state issues — read Our View.
SPORTS, 5 News, 1
Sports, 5
Opinion, 9
OPINION, 9 University of Idaho
Volume 114, Issue no. 31
Recyclable