The university was ranked the most wired campus in the country in Yahoo! Internet Life, and we as a university have continued to pride ourselves on our cutting-edge vision of incorporating technology into our daily lives and the classroom. But at what cost, and for what motives? With the implementation of the Plan for the Class of 2000, tuition rose ,750; at the same time, many would claim that face-to-face interaction has decreased.

When the university again reached the Top 25 in US News and World Report last month, President Thomas K. Hearn, Jr. acknowledged that the university must not operate for rankings. Technology, Hearn said, is a tool, and should be used as such, not as a publicity stunt.

The administration is absolutely right, and now is the time to live up to Hearn's wisdom. The superfluous implementation of technology for the sake of technology hinders instead of promotes the academic experience, providing more distraction and cost than aid.

The ThinkPad program, first implemented with the Class of 2000, serves the student body, faculty and administration. A universal network of computers and software makes technical support manageable. In a sense, it also offers extended "office hours," increasing the faculty's accessibility.

But what about the latest gadget?

A university pilot program, implemented in fall 2001, is exploring the option of giving each student an iPaq, ¯ an electronic handheld organizer ¯ to complement the IBM ThinkPad. While instant, handheld Internet access is certainly cool and electronic organizers are all the rage, is this really worth the added cost and maintenance it would require from the university and Information Systems?

Improving our educational experience must be the cornerstone of all university decisions. As the administration considers additions to the already impressive computer package, it needs to ask: Is this something we really need?

We do not want to fall behind the rest of the nation in technological trends, for this will hamper us in the real world. Neverthless, we also face a danger of getting sucked into technology frenzy and losing touch with the "manual world."

Remember learning long division before being allowed to use a calculator? We must regard all forms of technology with the same sensibility, learning to first function independently without it and then implementing it as a productivity tool. With the ease and accessibility of the Internet, we face a danger of forgetting how to use a card catalog or pick up a newspaper.

Though it can be an invaluable tool, technology should not serve as a promotion stunt designed to boost our edge over other schools. When we allow this, "technology (becomes) a servant who makes so much noise cleaning up in the next room that his master cannot make music," Karl Kraus, an Austrian author noted.