UVA has 100% Wi-Fi — Why don’t we?

Hi everyone,

I’m actually blogging from the University of Virginia today — I’m spending the weekend here for a debate conference.  While I was here, I noticed one very stark contrast that separates UVA from Mason — they have blanketed the entire campus with 100% Wi-Fi (wireless internet) coverage.

It’s an amazing feeling, knowing that no matter where you go, you can get on the Internet.  I’ve been in academic buildings — I get wireless.  I’ve spent some time in the residential dorms — I get wireless.  I was walking on the Quad, and my phone vibrated — I had new emails, which I only knew about because I get wireless.  No matter where I go, everywhere inside and most places outside, they have covered this campus with blanket wireless coverage.

So what about Mason?

Mason has made great improvements in recent years, but we’re still not all the way there yet.  When I started at Mason, in Fall of 2006, I often found academic buildings with no wireless internet.  Nowadays, as a Government and International Politics major, I often have classes in both Robinson Halls, which have been thankfully covered.  But I keep hearing from students that buildings they have classes in — Krug and King Halls, for example — have yet to be covered.  Getting internet on my phone while walking around outside? Forget about it. Heck, even the Student Government office doesn’t get proper wireless coverage.

To the credit of the administrators, they have been making improvements.  At the beginning of the Fall 2007 semester, the Johnson Center was retrofitted with 42 new wireless access points.  During a meeting last week with fellow Student Government members, Mason’s VPIT/CIO Joy Hughes and VPTSD Walt Sevon were kind enough to provide Student Government maps of wireless coverage in the Johnson Center:

JC Ground Floor - Wireless Map

JC 1st Floor - Wireless Map

JC 2nd Floor - Wireless Map

JC 3rd Floor - Wireless Map

So what can we do next year?

The University Master Plan provides for full wireless coverage…eventually.  We’d like to see it happen next year. Covering the entire JC with new wireless access points cost less than $10,000 — relatively inexpensive for the breadth of coverage. There are plans in motion to improve this coverage again this summer, increasing the speed by 10x. At the same time, we’d like to see increased range in the outside parts of the JC and other areas that have not been sufficiently covered. Furthermore, over this upcoming summer break or the next winter break, we’d like to see progress made on all remaining buildings and open areas on campus. It’s not difficult or expensive to do — it’s just something Student Government has to push for, one of those Real Solutions we’d like to see happen Right Now.

Thanks for reading!

-Ravi Udeshi
Candidate for Student Body Vice President

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our blog!  We’re so excited to be running for Student Body President and Vice President because it’s the best opportunity for us to take our passion and ideas for Mason and turn them into reality for next year.  We are Nicole Kukuruda, a junior residential student, and Ravi Udeshi, a sophomore commuter student, and we can’t wait to share more with you over the coming weeks in our blog.  We’re going to be highlighting things we hear from Mason students and faculty that we think we can help with in the next academic year.  Overall, we’re focused on implementing Real Solutions, Right Now — practical solutions to problems that can be fixed immediately — along with a few long-term goals we’d like to start breaking ground on.

But more than anything, we’d like to hear what YOU want to see changed for next year.  We’ve added lots of things to our platform we wouldn’t have known about if we hadn’t spent time talking to individual students about their issues and concerns — simple things like the heating in Thompson Hall or more parking options for bikers.  If you have something that you don’t think is being addressed, we’d love to know about it.  We’ve set up a page on our website — nicoleandravi.com/ideas — where you can add your ideas; you can also email us or even call us and leave us a voicemail.

 In the meantime, please feel free to explore our website.  We’ve added a lot of information about what we’d like to see happen, and we can’t make it happen without your support.  If you haven’t already, make sure to join our Facebook group (link on the right side) and feel free to add both of us as your Facebook friends.  We’re getting ready for an exciting few weeks and look forward to meeting each and every one of you!

-Nicole Kukuruda and Ravi Udeshi
Candidates for Student Body President and Vice President

Ideas?

Got an idea for Student Government to pursue next year? We’d love to hear it!

As we met with the Student Body while gearing up for our campaign, we heard lots of great ideas — things that are simple to fix, but no one is doing anything about. We’ve incorporated a lot of those ideas into our platform, but there’s always room for more. There are a few ways you can get in touch with us:

• Leave a Comment!
  You can leave a comment on this page. We’re all about transparency in your student government, so we’re looking forward to a healthy and public discussion of ideas right out here in the open.
• Email Us!
  You can reach us at ideas@nicoleandravi.com. We promise to reply back to you within 24 hours.
• Call Us!
  You can leave us a voicemail at (703) 942-9850. Make sure to leave your name and number so we can call you back!

Be forewarned — however you leave a comment, we may just use it in our next video! Thanks and look out for our replies below!

-Nicole Kukuruda and Ravi Udeshi
Candidates for Student Body President and Vice President