Information Technology Council

Minutes for the Meeting of February 16, 1996

Members present: E. Anderson, S. Boesch, D. Brown, C. Dillon, P. Gerhard, D. Hough, B. Mason, J. Moore, L. Portwood, S. Sohail, B. Swisher

  1. Members were told that the ITC now has a list-serv, itc@uoknor.edu, and a Web page, http://www.ou.edu/committees/itc/. The Standing Committees also have list-serv’s set up. Eric Anderson agreed to work on organizing the ITC pages, including the creation of a template for the Standing Committees.

  2. Dale Brown reported on the discussions held to set guidelines for the Standing Committees. These guidelines suggest 10-12 voting members on the committees, including 4-6 members of the ITC, and 6 members, with roughly equal representation, selected from the faculty, staff, and students. It was agreed upon by the Council that there should be several ex-officio members on each committee representing the organizations that provide services. This will give the committees continuity and greater technical expertise.

  3. Chairs were established for the various Standing Committees. These were:

    Instructional TechnologyLisa Portwood
    Creative ActivitesEric Anderson
    Administrative ComputingJohn Moore
    Network ServicesDale Brown

    Membership for the committees will be solicited from the representative bodies, and first meetings will held as soon as possible.

  4. The issue of networking fees was discussed. Bob Swisher described some of the history of the network upgrade. Bruce Mason presented some of the arguments of the students that lead to a resolution passed by the Student Congress expressing strong opposition to the current fee proposal. In the ensuing discussion, the Council agreed that better communication is needed to inform the students of what the network upgrade means, the fundamental changes it will bring to campus, and the cost of operation and maintenance of the infrastructure. There was disagreement over what level of technology should be available campus wide, and what role the ITC should play in the establishment of fees. The members of the council were in strong agreement that a task force should be established as soon as possible to look at all technology fees across campus. This should include, but not be restricted to, the creation of a rational, coordinated fee structure across all colleges, a search for possible savings due to redundancy of services, and an accounting for current and future fees.

  5. The next ITC meeting will include, hopefully, a discussion with the Vice Presidents regarding their views of technology on campus. The time for this meeting must be arranged with the Vice Presidents’ offices, but is scheduled tentatively for Friday, March 8 at 2:00.