COD to pay official's Wi-Fi
College of DuPage Trustee Joe Wozniak can now access the Internet anywhere, anytime -- at taxpayer expense.
Technically speaking, so can other trustees on the board, though they have declined to do so.
Still, in a divided vote, trustee agreed to spend about $50 per month so Wozniak could skip using dial-up service for his college-issued laptop computer.
"My dad's had this system for, like, several years with the dial-up, and these computers don't work with dial-up. Basically, without a (Wi-Fi) card like that to use it, this is just an anchor, really," Wozniak said of the laptop.
Actually, his assertion's not true, according to the school.
The new Gateway computers have modems that allow them to connect to a dial-up Internet connection, said Brian Kleemann, COD spokesman. And they can work at free Wi-Fi hotspots.
Wozniak, though, said he was told by the college his computer wouldn't work with dial-up access, and he couldn't connect from home.
The seven elected and one student trustee each got $1,729 computers in June in a move to go paperless. They are for use at board meetings and to retrieve messages related to college business. The total cost: $13,832.
The computers also store policies and other information trustees might need, said Trustee Kathy Wessel, who voted against paying for Internet connections.
"I don't expect the college to provide those sort of things for me," she said. "We all provide our own Internet connection."
Trustee Joseph Snyder agreed.
He even gave back his laptop so he wasn't hampered by the restriction it be used for college business only -- and so it wasn't a taxpayer expense. He bought his own laptop. Trustee Mary Mack similarly returned her computer.
"I don't believe we should take advantage of the college," Snyder said. "I thought we were doing this for free."
One of the returned computers is used by the board attorney at meetings and the second one is available for a second attorney or the board secretary, Kleemann said.
Trustees Snyder, Wessel and Mack voted against Wozniak's proposal for monthly wireless service. Board Chairman Micheal McKinnon, Vice Chairman Mark Nowak, Trustees Wozniak and David Carlin voted in favor of the move.
Carlin said he relies on wireless connections with his personal Blackberry.
"Oftentimes I work out of my car, and I try to find a Panera Bread because of the free (Internet) access," he said.
"To think that a trustee who might have business commitments, but yet wants to keep in touch with the college, (needs) to download board material prior to the meeting (and) should have to run to Panera is, I think, putting the trustees out," he said.
It's not as if Wozniak can't get the documents through other means. The college's Glen Ellyn campus started offering free wireless last year, and trustee Hope Whitten said she has no problem connecting to it with her college-provided laptop.