By Staff

Just as you think you’ve finished your list of daily online errands – checking your e-mail, paying off your credit card bills and updating your Facebook profile, you’ll regret not adding one more stop – at the Hofstra Portal. In an effort to save paper and become more accessible to students around-the-clock, the University has gradually uploaded its student services to the Web.The decision to embrace the Internet, the stomping ground for anyone born after 1980, is a wise one. The perks are obvious – no paperwork, no waiting in lines and no time constraints, since students can log on anytime, anywhere. Students can track and add meal points, add or drop classes and perform countless other tasks with a few clicks of their mouse. The disadvantages, however, are rarely talked about, unless you find yourself among the students who have fallen through the cracks of the new digitally-enhanced system. The problem is not that the University now offers the same customer service of Memorial Hall from the comfort of students’ dorms. More options and less bureaucratic tape is always a plus. However, what was once a supplement to existing practices is becoming the norm and the Internet is slowly becoming the only form of communication. For example, starting this fall, only first year students received formal letters from the Office of Financial Aid asking them to accept or deny their scholarships, loans and other awards. Current undergraduates, who were accustomed to receiving this important documentation on the standard University letterhead, received nothing more than an e-mail directing them to the Hofstra Portal to complete this verification. This means, if you’ve failed to check your Pride account, or forward it to another e-mail address, you would have missed this communication. If you mistakenly deleted the message, thinking it was just another event announcement or ad for summer session classes, you’re out of luck. Or if this sensitive material managed to creep into your Spam folder, you could find, as some University students did, that a $5,000 loan was automatically accepted in your name or a hold was placed on your account.These notorious “holds” come in many shapes and can be doled out for a number of reasons, such as failing to pay a bill, return a library book or receive required health physicals and immunizations. They are silent killers in the sense that they completely wipe out a student’s power to eat (if you’re on a meal plan) or register for classes. It’s like being invisible. But unless students remember to check the status of their Hofstra accounts as frequently as their bank accounts, they will most likely discover this stain on their records when their bellies are growling and their hands are full of delicious treats. This situation is just as embarrassing as being told your credit card has been declined and correcting the problem can take days. That’s a long time for students whose only spending power is their Pride points. If you’re not one of the poor students who have been pinned down by a hold, whether for legit reasons or not, you might be able to appreciate the genius behind the University’s strategy to force students to comply. It’s doubtful students would have such a strong reaction and be motivated to fix the problem so quickly if the University was only threatening their ability to check out library books. This University has earned a reputation for being on the cutting edge of technology compared to other educational institutions and students have much to be thankful for. However, e-mails will never carry the same weight as a message that has been signed, sealed and delivered with the University’s official banner on the top. Yes, there are students who feel postal mail is out of date, but sad to say, the traditional mail carriers are much more reliable than their electronic equivalents. Sure, the University could save time and paper by relying solely on the Web for communicating with students, but the results will only be missed or mixed messages.Perhaps, students are merely wasting their time complaining though, since this electronic revolution has already begun to take control of our lives. Every company or institution has a Web site, every site requires a password and on any given day expect to find atleast 50 e-mails waiting in your inbox. For students entering the workforce, the required briefcase has been replaced by a Blackberry and the typical 9 to 5 work hours have been extended, thanks to the accessibility and non-stop service of the Internet. When our parent’s generation received the frightening news that they would have too train their worn-out brains new tricks – such as how to send attachments and operate a browser – there was the initial resistance to this informational, technological revolution. The fears for the next generation of workers are quite, different, maybe even scarier.If today’s businessman must have a cell phone, PDA and laptop, or the equivalent of these three- a Blackberry- with them at all times, than what’s in store for tomorrow’s workers? Technology should be used to improve the quality of life, not increase the workload and turn people into slaves to these relentless electronic devices. Furthermore, the new does not always have to replace the old, but should complement it nicely.Just as an affectionate instant message can not replace a handwritten love letter and a text message could never communicate a story as well as a spoken conversation, this campus can not stay connected through the Internet alone.