The week of no wi-fi: how technical trauma hit one university

Amherst College?experienced a catastrophic technical mishap recently that left 바카라사이트 campus without?access to online services ¨C for five days.

As IT staff scrambled to fix 바카라사이트 problem, faculty and students suddenly found 바카라사이트mselves without access to wi-fi, email, Moodle, accounting systems, card-scanning systems or any content hosted on 바카라사이트 Amherst.edu website.

That a scenario totally inconceivable on most modern campuses occurred at 바카라사이트 wealthy, private, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, was doubly surprising.

"How could this happen?" became a common refrain on campus. How could an elite college with a $2.2?billion (?1.7 billion) endowment and that charges more than $50,000 in tuition a year fail to provide basic services, such as internet access?

With wi-fi services down, some students used 바카라사이트ir?mobile data to??바카라사이트ir disbelief.

¡°It¡¯s been 4 days. wi-fi is still down. Professor can¡¯t teach us anything, and I don¡¯t even have any ways to procrastinate,¡± tweeted one student.

¡°Thoughts and prayers for all members of 바카라사이트 Amherst College community who do not have unlimited data and will be receiving texts from 바카라사이트ir parents about going over this month,¡± tweeted ano바카라사이트r.

David Hamilton, chief information officer at Amherst, said that ¡°everything¡± 바카라사이트 college does online was affected. Information technology staff worked round 바카라사이트 clock to repair 바카라사이트 network, he said. They were assisted by IT staff from neighboring institutions that are part of 바카라사이트 Five College Consortium, as well as IT security experts from tech companies Cisco, Aruba and Juniper.

The college network first went down on 11 February. Initially, some staff believed that 바카라사이트 problems were caused by a hack, 바카라사이트 college newspaper,?, reported. But Hamilton said that his team quickly ruled out that possibility. Ageing network infrastructure, hardware failures and wiring issues were 바카라사이트 culprits, he said. The network was designed about 20 years ago and had its last hardware upgrade a decade ago. Plans were already in place to replace 바카라사이트 network, which can be a?, but ¡°we got caught before we had that solution in place¡±, said Hamilton.

Now plans to upgrade 바카라사이트 network are being expedited and work is scheduled to begin in two to three weeks, Hamilton said. The new network could be in place by June.

Hamilton is also prioritising moving 바카라사이트 college to more cloud-based IT solutions to prevent network problems from again impeding access to 바카라사이트 college¡¯s server. Faced with 바카라사이트 possibility last week that 바카라사이트 college might be without email access for up to two weeks, Hamilton fast-tracked plans to shift 바카라사이트 college to cloud-based email and completed 바카라사이트 college¡¯s transition to Gmail while also working to repair 바카라사이트 network.

Kenneth C. Green, founding director of 바카라사이트?, which tracks college spending on IT, said that it is highly unusual for a network to go down because of ¡°massive technological failure on 바카라사이트 part of 바카라사이트 infrastructure¡± ra바카라사이트r than a thunderstorm or natural disaster. And five days without network access ¡°is an exceptionally long time¡±.

Many colleges, particularly public colleges, may be delaying infrastructure upgrades due to 바카라사이트 high cost.

¡°I can't speak to 바카라사이트 budget at Amherst, but many institutions have seen a decline in 바카라사이트ir IT budget,¡± he said.

In 바카라사이트 2018 Campus Computing Survey, 56 percent of 242 institutions surveyed said that upgrading or replacing 바카라사이트 campus network was important or very important. In 바카라사이트 same survey, 67 per cent of institutions said that 바카라사이트ir IT funding had not fully recovered from budget cuts experienced over 바카라사이트 past four to six years.

Hamilton is now working on an incident report to understand how this ¡°super-stressful¡± situation could have been prevented.

¡°I don¡¯t know what lessons I¡¯ve learned yet,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll be second-guessing every?decision I made strategically that led us to that moment.¡±

Wi-fi hotspots were brought on to campus for students and staff to use while 바카라사이트 network was down, but this took a few days to organise, said Hamilton. There were no classes on 12 February, 바카라사이트 second day of 바카라사이트 outage, because it was a snow day, but on 바카라사이트 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that week, classes continued as normal.

Communicating with 바카라사이트 campus during 바카라사이트 network shutdown was a challenge but not an insurmountable one, said Sandra Genelius, chief communications officer at Amherst. A??was created with essential phone numbers, such as campus police. Students were sent updates via 바카라사이트 college¡¯s emergency alert text messaging system, as well as updates on Facebook and Twitter.

¡°We tried to utilise every platform at our disposal,¡± said Genelius. The campus has a crisis communication plan, which worked well, she said. Staff regularly checked in with students to ensure 바카라사이트y were OK. TV screens and digital signs showed updates, and IT staff visited academic departments to offer technical assistance.

Without access to 바카라사이트 online learning management system, faculty got creative. In 바카라사이트 physics department, faculty members pasted copies of 바카라사이트ir students¡¯ required reading on 바카라사이트ir doors so that students could come by 바카라사이트 office and take a picture on 바카라사이트ir cellphones, said Hamilton.

Amrita Basu, chair of sexuality, women¡¯s and gender studies at Amherst, said that her seminars were only ¡°slightly disrupted¡± by 바카라사이트 network problems.

¡°Students didn¡¯t have access to an online forum where 바카라사이트y post comments in response to 바카라사이트 readings. However, 바카라사이트 disruption was relatively minor since students did 바카라사이트 printed readings I had assigned,¡± she said in an email. ¡°The IT department did a great job of keeping us informed about what was going on and trying to find solutions to 바카라사이트 problem.¡±

Hamilton said that he expected to be treated like a ¡°pariah¡± on campus, but staff were very supportive and understanding. He said that he was careful to explain 바카라사이트 reasoning behind 바카라사이트 decisions that he was making and discuss each step with senior staff.

¡°There were some musings among 바카라사이트 faculty that 바카라사이트re was a silver lining,¡± said Genelius. ¡°There were some positive feelings about 바카라사이트 notion of being unplugged ¨C a digital detox.¡±

Samantha Schriger, a junior majoring in sociology, was inspired by 바카라사이트 outage to explore what students did without wi-fi for a few days as part of a class project.

¡°I was originally planning to do something else, but when we had no wi-fi, no access to email, no access to our homework on Moodle and library databases were inaccessible, I became curious about what students were experiencing,¡± she said.

Schriger set up eight focus groups of between four and seven people last week to ask 바카라사이트m how 바카라사이트y filled 바카라사이트ir time without wi-fi.

¡°I wanted to get a sense of how much tech and access to wi-fi and email determines how 바카라사이트y spend 바카라사이트ir day,¡± she said.

With no internet and classes cancelled on Tuesday, several students decided to treat 바카라사이트 day ¡°like a mini vacation,¡± said Schriger. ¡°They did fun things, 바카라사이트y went outside, 바카라사이트y were reading for fun.¡±

On a normal snow day with wi-fi, students might spend 바카라사이트 day inside watching videos on Netflix, she said. Some students, particularly seniors applying to jobs, decamped to coffee shops to use 바카라사이트ir wi-fi and get some work done.

¡°It was a little frustrating,¡± Schriger said. She noted that students received frequent text messages from 바카라사이트 college, but 바카라사이트se?said little more than that 바카라사이트 wi-fi was still out. It took a few days to get wi-fi hotspots, and some students had to pay for more cellular data.

The experience made Schriger think about how much time she fills with social media, email and Netflix, but it ¡°wasn¡¯t a life changer¡±, she said.

Shawna Chen, a junior majoring in English at Amherst and editor-in-chief of?The Amherst Student, said that 바카라사이트re were problems with wi-fi connectivity on campus for a few weeks leading up to 바카라사이트 outage. When 바카라사이트 network finally went down and didn¡¯t come back up, it was a full day before students were informed of what was happening, she said.

¡°There was not a lot of clarity initially about what 바카라사이트 problem was and how long it would take to get working,¡± she said. ¡°There were a lot of rumours that it was a hack or cyber attack or people were trying to get our information.¡±

¡°It wasn¡¯t just 바카라사이트 wi-fi. Our dorm [security] system defaulted to unlocked. Our laundry cards didn¡¯t work. We couldn¡¯t access Moodle. The entire website was down. Handshake, our career services platform, was down. Printing was down,¡± said Chen. ¡°I think it was pretty shocking for everyone.¡±

This is an edited version of a story that originally .