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SPIDER WEBBS TELLS
A CHRISTMAS STORY
about love
Page 2
National Phonathon for
1991 Is A Success!
Results Listed
Page 4
INSroE;
Crossword p.4
Sports p.4
Endnotes p,4
Movies p.3
Spider Webbs p.2
TlmeOui p.2
To the Editor p.2
HILLTOP
Issue 6
The Official Student Newspaper of Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, NC
Wednesday, December 11,1991
CABLE TV COMES TO MHC
*^'chael S. Roten
^^ntributing editor
Two\
years ago, there was a student
le
ion.
fe-fold
thr,^
^9ble
® ‘
Co||g^*®*®vision, data networking, and
IS con-
Tomorrow, there wiil be a
network of the campus.
1
corhi^®'®ourced programming are ali
to Mars Hili College.
datiQ^®®*^ on that student recommen-
itiggtj ® fow years back, there was a
the Facilities Committee on
Of a p to talk about the feasibility
iqq ®,®ole television addition to each
the c 'n dorms. Dr. Schmeltokopf,
theQ|°; ®96 Provost at that time, gave
jeej to do some research on the sub-
surveying 38 residential living
Waj^ ^^s throughout North Carolina, it
P0sg-®°'^o that 60% of those cam-
Cabig^ *^tJestioned had some form of
Havi^ ^®*®yision in the dorm rooms.
Waj this information, the proposal
^ fought up again and approved.
'Jfitvyg '^3s made with Institutional
Communications to do most
of the work, and as of this past October,
work began across the campus to lay
the cable. The computer master plan
of the college also played a role in the
construction by calling for the four inch
conduit being placed in the trenches to
carry the cable. In the future, this will
carry more than enough fiber optics
which will computer link the campus
(see separate article).
One of the most attractive features
of the new cable television system is
the addition of two channels devoted to
the college. The first of these channels
will be used as an educational channel
for students. The college will be linked
with the GTE Spacenet 2 satellite and
also to the SCOLA international news
service.
The second channel will be used as
a college information channel. The col
lege will have a character generating
computer to run a constant stream of
useful information across the screen.
The possible uses for this channel are
endless in that there can be information
displayed concerning pre-registration
days and registration days, the weather
^omputer-link explained
staff reports
forecast, cancellations of classes or
events, even what will be served that
day in the cafeteria. Another possibility
will be an addition to the college media
by way of an MHC student news
program and associated specials.
For use by the television system,
there will be three new satellite dishes
placed around the campus. One in the
Harris Media Center will be used to
down-link educational programs, while
two others will be set up overlooking
the soccer field on women’s hill. By
May of 1992, there will be a third dish
and a tower also set up overlooking the
soccer field.
The cost of the cable system for stu
dents is much less than the cost to the
general public. For example, the town
of Mars Hill pays an average of $25.00
per month for basic service, while MAX-
TEL Cablevision / Institutional Netv/ork
Communications, Inc. will be charging
Mars Hill students only $17.75 per
month on the average. Another ad
vantage over the townspeople is the
fact that there will be several more sta
tions available to the campus through
this different cable server. A premium
channel (HBO or Showtime) may be
added to the cost at just $9.25 for one
or $14.25 for two per month. The total
cost of the package ranges from
$71.00 to $138.00 for the entire spring
semester. MAXTEL Cablevision will
have a booth at registration in January
to answer any questions and also to
take payments for the spring semester.
Note: for televisions which are not
cable ready, there will be converters
available by deposit.
Although there have been several
concerns raised by the faculty and staff
of the college, the communications
system will prove very useful to the col
lege in that it will help keep Mars Hill on
a level equal to or higher than other
comparable institutions. With the im
plementation of this addition to the col
lege, not only have the present needs
and demands of the campus been met,
but the future’s needs of the campus
will be easier to meet. The four inch
conduit will eliminate the need of the
campus to be dug up for many years to
come.
thejr, |®9® officials are coordinating
the cable television in all
the (s®e separate article) with
tiejtg ® computer
hecig^ for the campus. The ex-
statg will be a world-class,
WhjgL°^'.^he-art computer system
jiig boost the college to the lead-
% computer-assisted teach-
learning."
operar ^ *be entire plan becomes fully
within two years," Presi-
Ifige explained, "Mars Hill Col-
Cfintg ’ *i'erally be at the information
*be world. Every dorm room
l9b_ g® eampus, every classroom and
th feculty office-plus the library
® e^edia center-will be linked by
which can be linked to
'''Orlri learning resource in the
^tpg', ' wili put Mars Hiil in the
iinivgr • tbe major colleges and
across the nation and far
fhost schools our size."
Plans to install facilities for cable
television in the individual rooms of the
various residence halls around the
campus came as a fortunate coin
cidence. College officials decided to
take advantage of the installation of the
cable to "wire the campus" for com
puters. In September, a contract was
signed with the installer, who is provid
ing two channels in the cable dedicated
for college use. These will enable the
college to broadcast from Harris Media
Center educational films, messages,
and/or special programs into the class
rooms, lounges, and student rooms
across the campus.
College personnel are developing a
comprehensive proposal to retrofit the
library so that students and faculty will
have the ability to access all library data
at any time-day or night-via computer.
A file server for the library will have
three or four times the capacity of any
other computer on the campus.
The library is already linked to
Solinet for inter-library lending. It ex-
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. -S IS the diagram for the linkage of the campus by the master plan. One fil’e server wil control th€
west end of the campus (which includes Wall) and one will control the east end (which includes
Cornwell).
pects to add Internet, a major research
network, in January. It also hopes to
hook into Bitnet, a communications
network for teachers, in the near future.
Dr. Bentley estimates that it may
take two years to complete these tech
nological advances around the cam
pus. When they are achieved, he
explains, all buildings of the campus
will be linked, all file servers will be avail
able to students and faculty/staff.
Using modems, they will be able to ac
cess data from every resource on the
campus and from other repositories
around the world.
"Change-radical change-is coming
to the academic world," Dr. Bentley
predicts. "I believe Mars Hill College is
preparing for this change. In fact, I
believe our computer master plan and
other initiatives we are taking are ac
tually helping to bring about change.
It’s exciting to think about, and I’m ex
tremely proud that the college is in the
forefront of this technological revolu
tion."