McKenna Stack |
I am a junior at the University of Portland. I love the friendly environment I find on campus, I love how on sunny spring days professors will teach outside and I always find myself craving iced mochas from the Commons while I’m working on homework. I have loved my time that I have spent here over the last three years. However, something has changed this year that has really affected my experience as a student: the Internet.
Just today, I have tried to download two documents for class. One of those was a 10-slide PowerPoint and the other was an eight-page article. The amount of time spent doing just these two things has already been one hour and 47 minutes, and I’m not even done downloading the second part. I’m irritated, frustrated and most of all confused.
Questions flood through my head, as they have time and time again, whether I am in class and the professor cannot load a lecture properly or whether I’m sitting in the library and waiting patiently for an article to load. Honestly, I would like some answers.
I have never had a problem with the Internet on this campus before. Why this year? What changes were made? Why can’t I download an article to print for class?
UP is made up of 5,000 students, which is a relatively small campus. If we have problems with our Internet, how do big schools like the University of Oregon, which has over 24,000 students, have the capacity to even have Internet? Do they have a different system. If so, why aren't we using it?
I know next year come a lot of upper division classes with online readings and lots of senior thesis research. I’m nervous I won’t be able to complete the assignments and tasks I need to fulfill in order to graduate. Will this problem be fixed? Or should I start to look for another option?
It’s coming to the end of the year, and with all due respect, I’m coming to the end of my rope.
If you were curious, it took me 12 minutes to write this letter, and my second document is a quarter of the way done downloading.
McKenna Stack is a junior organizational communication major. She can be reached at stack15@up.edu.
