Western Courier

Issue date: 3/9/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Nichole McDaniel

Owning a computer is not a requirement for being a student, but it makes it a whole lot easier, said Chad Hankins, chair of the Council on Student Information Technology.

CSIT is preparing to give away between 250 and 300 computers retired from campus computer labs to students through a lottery.

The computers are all four to five years old and come with Microsoft Windows 98 and Norton Anti-Virus. Installation software for some free programs, such as Open Office, will be included on a burned CD, which SGA has approved $300 for the funding of at last night's meeting.

The computers, however, will not come with a warranty.

"They will all be tested before they are given away," Hankins said. "We don't want to give away computers that don't work."

Two different types of machines will be given out: a Pentium 3 600 megahertz with 64 megabytes of RAM and a Pentium 3 1 gigahertz with 256 MB RAM.

"These computers won't play the newest games," Hankins said. "But they will be useful for homework for just about anybody but graphic communications majors."

The computers will come with all of the necessary cords, a mouse, a monitor, the CPU and a keyboard, however, they will not come with speakers or a modem.

Applications for the lottery will be available April 1 in the SGA office in the University Union Student Organizations Center and possibly on the SGA Web site; they will be due by April 29. Applicants are required to include their student identification number, their Western e-mail address and check whether or not they own a computer on the application. Hankins said students with computers over six years old should check the "do not own a computer" box on the application.

Two drawings will be held - one for students without computers and a second for those who own computers. The second drawing will only be held if all of the computers are not given away in the first drawing.

The drawings will be held during finals week and winners will be notified through e-mail. The e-mail also will contain information about when and where to pick up the computers.

The CSIT computer give-a-way program was started two years ago, when about 100 computers were given away. When old computers were taken out of campus computer labs they used to be sent to Central Management Services in Springfield and sold for scrap. Because the money used to purchase the computers comes from student activity fees and not state funds, CMS agreed to let CSIT give them back to the people who bought them in the first place - the students.

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