Eastern Oregon University

Tech-Fee Committee Meeting

February 28, 2008

Members Present:  James Tilley, Callie Nelson, Marian Mustoe, Linda Fratzke, Brian Sather, Frederick Pratter

Resource Members Present:  Helen Moore, Paul Rowan

Guest:  Nick Romriell

Minutes from February 14, 2008 meeting approved with one correction; Linda Fratzke was present.

Nick Romriell explained the Digital Signage proposal and answered questions from the committee regarding it.  Highlights of the discussion include: 

• The signage could help inform faculty and students of academic changes such as, addition of classes, changes in general education requirements, and the BART plan. 
• The signage could highlight student successes and achievements. 
• Advertising new classes could result in an economic benefit to the university.
• Safety issues, concerns and alerts could be broadcast. 
• The plan is to put one sign near Hoke (in the Quad or on the entrance roof overhang) and one sign by the main entrance to campus on Sixth Street.   Inside locations for the informational “TVs” could include the Hoke Dining Hall, Macs, the north entrance to Hoke and hall near the Registrar’s office in Inlow Hall.  Nick asked that in case of partial approval of the proposal, the outside signs be funded first.
• Who would control the signs is still open to discussion.  The Student Activities Office could be responsible for it.  All the signs would be controlled by separate computer software.
• The question was asked about how the administration felt about the proposal?  Nick responded that Tim Sydel, Dixie Lund and Stephen Jenkins all spoke in favor of the project. 
• Brian asked if locating one of the reader boards off-campus had been considered.  Nick said that it had not, but they were open to suggestions.   Marian suggested that some of his geography students do a traffic survey on Sixth Street to help determine what kind of exposure a sign at the Sixth Street entrance would have. 
• Paul asked if the proposal had been evaluated by the IT Department for issues, such as connectivity.  Nick said he had not consulted with the IT Department, but he talked with Facilities and Planning regarding installation. 
• Nick noted that there are maintenance plans available for approximately $2000 per reader board.  However, the vendors said that reader boards have long lives and few maintenance issues.  The committee noted that Nick had done a lot of research into options for the proposal and commended him for his work.

The committee discussed the proposal.  Various members spoke in opposition and in favor.  Highlights of the discussion include:

• Signs would be an aesthetic blight on the campus. 
• There was no guarantee that the information would be kept up to date.
• Vandalism could be a major concern.
• Students would most likely not have hands on use of the equipment and it really has nothing to do with academics. 
• There are major technical issues including trenching and connectivity. 
• Currently there is no way to send notices to entire student body, other than posting something to the website, consequently many students miss out on important issues.
• It is not necessarily a bad idea, but with the current economic status on campus, this may not be the right time to spend $40,000 on signage.  It could send a bad political message.
• Could we add notices to the smart classroom “black boxes” already in the classrooms?  Dr. Pratter said making that happen could be a project for a computer science student.

The next meeting is scheduled for 7:00am on Thursday March 6, 2008.  We will continue discussion of the proposals with the goal of starting the approval process.

Minutes submitted by Helen Moore