By: Yadiel Medina
Carrollton GA- The University of West Georgia’s Carrollton Campus is a place of community and a college where education and inclusivity are encouraged. As any school, however, there are situations where students do not feel appropriately heard.
Students on campus were asked what they believed they needed as students and residents given three overarching topics: Technological complications, safety concerns, and mental health, the topic of this article being technological complications.
The technological complications that students have faced in this semester and the previous one have lowered quality of life and have left students feeling uninformed. Jada Little, a resident at the Oaks and former resident of Bowdon Hall had this to say when asked about the Wi-Fi’s inconsistency:
“The Wifi inconsistencies make it hard to work in the dorms and study rooms. It’s great to be able to walk down the hall to my room to do homework but when we have to spend multiple hours in a different building in order to get homework done, it puts a damper on things.”
Bert Agripino, a resident of the Oaks was frustrated with the subsequent crashing of OneLogin after the Wifi situation, “I have about ten classes and assignments for almost all of them, so it’s inconvenient, sometimes impossible to find a building with consistent Wifi to get everything done.”
OneLogin being down presented a big problem for students who had exams or assignments that needed to be submitted. Students were already on edge due to the WiFi, and only seemed to be getting more frustrated with the school after the fact. Despite their understanding of the situation, their professors were not being notified. If they were, students were not made aware, only adding to their stress.
The school has tried to get information out to its students on how the issues were being fixed with update emails. They even made sure to let students know they could use alternative buildings such as the TLC building and Ingram Library.
According to a few sources on campus, students had to resort to finding off-campus arrangements, “I ended up having to go home since half the students staying in the building were at the TLC building.”
Jada Little was vocal when asked what students need to have more successful outcomes in situations such as these, “An estimated time on when the WiFi will be back up, alternate places that don’t have inconsistent Wi-Fi, and emails also sent out to the professors to let them know the inconvenience the students face.”
A few students have voiced concerns over class registration. A majority being overrides needed where they were not previously mentioned by advisors. According to others, the advisors on campus have done well in giving their students alternate courses, should their own not be available.
Students appreciate the community that UWG is and they feel comfortable enough voicing these concerns. They also understand that the school is doing the best they can, they simply want their needs to be heard and accommodated to.
