Give HASCS Priority

While Harvard talks a good game about moving the University onto the information superhighway, it appears that the effort needed to make the transition a reality is missing.

As the demands of the student body for Harvard's computing resources have skyrocketed, the resources that the University has provided to those who make the system function has lagged far behind.

Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS) is woefully understaffed and underbudgeted. More personnel are needed to handle the numerous demands of running a computer network, and more space is needed for the staff of HASCS.

HASCS staff say that there is so little space for personnel and computing facilities, that even if the University were to authorize HASCS to hire more employees, there literally would be no place to put them.

Space and staff shortages are hurting students. The service we receive is compromised when overtaxed workers are too busy to respond to requests for assistance. It is a shame when new Hewlett Packard computers donated to Harvard must sit in storage for weeks because, HASCS staff say, there is nobody with the time to set them up and no place to put them.

The plight of HASCS is not a secret. The University has been notified numerous times of the desperate needs. The most recent wake-up call was a January memo to the members of the FAS committee on information technology. In that memo, Director Richard S. Steen called HASCS "a ship taking on water faster than it can bail out." He argued that the failure of the University to provide the needed resources was being reflected in low morale.

The University faces innumerable requests for more funding and personnel. But the question of computers and Harvard's links with global communications systems is one that will determine whether the University remains at the top, or falls behind other institutions. It's a worth while investment.