Computers on the Campus

Abstract

A UNIVERSITY without an electronic computer is rare nowadays. Many large institutions maintain two computers, one for academic, other for administrative, purposes. Commenting on recent purchase by University of Massachusetts of one of largest computer systems in country, Dean Edward Moore noted that in view of the remarkable strides being made in scientific research today, a top must have a high-powered computer. How valid would his statement be had he replaced university by college, specifically, small private liberal-arts college? Vassar College, with i,6oo women undergraduates, is a case in point. Six years ago, at request of Department of Mathematics, faculty reluctantly approved a course in computer theory to be taught at advanced level by a research mathematician from neighboring International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Three years later faculty enthusiastically endorsed this course as a standard curriculum offering. Its popularity, combined with demands from students variously oriented to computers and from young faculty members accustomed to using a computer for research, has brought Vassar College to a crossroad: Should we acquire a computer on campus? A number of questions follow initial one. Are other colleges similar to ours maintaining computers? Is computer science a valid discipline in a liberal-arts curriculum or is it vocationally oriented? Should programing be taught? Can high cost of even most modest computer be justified for either academic or administrative usage? What kind of computer is most suitable for a small college? How can purchase and upkeep of a computer be financed? Should academic or administrative usage have priority? Where would a computer be housed? Would a full-time director of computer center be required, or could it be run by a faculty member or a faculty committee? What clerical staff would be needed? These are questions that Alan Simpson, Vassar College's newly inaugurated president, is facing. To learn some of answers, he first instructed a team of managerial consultants currently reviewing college's administrative machinery to propose recommendations con-