Sustainability Fee an Investment

The proposed $10 fee for sustainability was disputed before anyone bothered to analyze the potential benefits. People only perceive it as “just another fee.” This is not a fee — it’s an investment with guaranteed returns. If approved, the fee will go towards, among other things, making buildings on campus more energy efficient. Anyone familiar with the phrase “Going Green” understands that the initial cost of sustainable practices is expensive, but these practices always save money in the end. A large portion of tuition pays for the energy used on camps. All of the energy at the University is acquired off campus and all involves the burning of petroleum products. The cost of petroleum products is rising rapidly, so why should we continue to use these resources when there are alternatives available to us? And if we must use nonrenewable resources, why can’t we use them efficiently? The industry standard for saving energy is “Spend a Dollar, Save Ten Dollars.” If roughly 30,000 students spend $10 on sustainability in one year, there is a potential savings of $3,000,000. That’s a pretty big chunk of change. Over time, this savings would definitely be reflected in tuition costs.

So, putting all questions of ethics and environmental responsibility aside, how can one argue against the proposed Sustainability fee? It’s a money-saver for everyone.

Alex MartinFreshman, College of Management

D.H. Hill Web Cameras

While public spaces may be a great place to relax and for some may provide asylum from the stresses of the day, they are still public. Public privacy is a concept which I cannot see extended much further than a bathroom stall in this day and age. Digital video surveillance of areas like stores or labs is favored because of the ease of access and recording. However in the instance of the D.H. Hill East Wing Web cam, the stream was a nice way to peer into this already public area to allow those who have not had a chance to visit this wing view it.

I actually saw the Web cam stream and saw the East Wing for the first time, and because of the stream, I believe that I’ll actually visit the wing some day soon. However, the East Wing camera is not one that needs to be worried about. There are many more Web cams on campus, many computer labs, engineering labs and classrooms have webcam surveillance.

Generally, these webcams are not published, however, they do maintain a static IP address so they can be maintained and watched. Unfortunately, many web cameras used for surveillance were not protected or hidden from the internet in any way. I found over a dozen accessible webcams without anything more than trivial searching. After I found all these cameras to be public, I reported them, however they were not removed from public viewing for months. The truth is, public places are not private, and it is the duty of our campus police to watch these public areas as much as possible and they do the best they can with webcams. While I do not believe we will go to bed in 2007 and wake up in 1984, we must remember that public places are public and that personal safety is personal. Nothing can change that, Web cams or not.

Nick PeadenJunior, Electrical Engineering