UNCF Examines Digital Divide On Campus

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 5, 1999 by Ronald Roach

The Thinkpad program, which is in place at numerous campuses around the country, requires a school to have a sophisticated campus computer network, widespread use of computers and Internet in the curriculum, and a faculty trained extensively in using computers as a teaching tool.

Yancy credits participation in the program with helping JCSU to become more advanced in using IT as a campuswide teaching and learning tool than many other schools.

"Our program is not hardware-driven; it's driven by academics," Yancy says. "We had developed a model for the academic program that incorporated technology. The [IBM program] provided additional pieces for the model."

Yancy says many schools struggle to get beyond a point where the computers are not solely used for administration and handed out only to students and faculty in computer science and engineering programs. Progressing beyond those limited uses of IT demands that an institution devote considerable resources to training faculty, developing a campuswide computer network, and providing adequate computer facilities for students, she says.

Joe Macklin, director of information technology at Saint Paul's College in Virginia, says he appreciates the UNCF leadership for organizing the summit and conducting the survey. One of the values of a summit meeting, he says, is that you can learn from others about the experiences they have encountered while upgrading campus IT infrastructures.

"You get an idea of where the Black colleges are on the technology spectrum, and ways you can improve facilities at your own school," Macklin says.

RELATED ARTICLE: NET REPORT STIRS CONCERN

While more Americans than ever have access to telephones, computers, and the Internet -- tools deemed necessary for economic empowerment -- the digital divide between information "haves" and "have- nots" continues to exist, according to the federal government.

Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration released, Falling through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, the Agency's third such study in the past five years. Among the findings:

* Whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than Blacks or Hispanics have from either home or work.

* Approximately one in three Black and Hispanic households are as likely to have home Internet access as households of Asian/Pacific Islander descent, and roughly two in five are as likely as White households.

"America's digital divide is fast becoming a `racial ravine,'" says Larry Irving, assistant secretary of Commerce for Telecommunications. "It is now one of America's leading economic and civil rights issue, and we have to take concrete steps to redress the gap between the information haves and have-nots."

The report has stirred civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP and the National Urban League, to publicly reaffirm their commitment to closing this gap. African Americans in higher education have also expressed concern and interest in developing initiatives that address the problem.