Welcome to ShawnTells, a commentary column by The University of Texas at El Paso undergrad, Matthew Shawn Montoya, a tech blogger on Odyssey, and an igniteCS Mentor for Google.
It’s hard to imagine a world where I’m not constantly communicating with people online. Whether it's with my advisors at Google, professors, managers, tutors, or peers, constant Broadband Internet access (Internet speeds >than 25mbps) is a necessity in today’s day-in-age. Its uses are infinite, from FaceTiming my mom, to working on labs, the reliance on technology is greater than ever before. As digital natives, perhaps technology is one of the greatest things we take for granted in the world. It is the one thing we consistently have at our disposal, and is also the one thing we’ve come to expect from telecommunication companies, employers, as well as educational institutions.
There is no question constant Internet access is a commodity-turned-necessity
This fall, I enrolled as a transfer student at the University of Texas — El Paso (UTEP). Although this is my first semester enrolled at UTEP, this is not my first semester at the University. During my years at the local community college, I participated in multiple computing events at UTEP and became familiar with the Information Technology (IT) services at the institution. The infrastructure isn’t perfect, but that’s what makes it IT. During its uptime, it worked well, considering it serviced more than 23,000 students in 2015. But as is the story with technology, it cannot remain stagnant if it is to remain a valuable tool. That is, it must always be upgraded, improved, and secured to future-proof its demands and well… That time has come.
Despite its imperfections, the University’s network has held up very well… until now.
As I’m writing the following sentence, news is breaking of a major Internet outage across the East coast: It seems rather trivial that in 2016, we have systems not designed to handle today’s uses, including the user of redundancy, scalability, and modern networking and security protocols. As we begin to turn the page on another year, the reliability of UTEP’s network stays behind for one simple reason: The communication between the IT desk and the students is severely subpar.
There are two sides to every story. I reached out to the University for comment and to properly address what may actually be going on behind the scenes that we, as students, don’t see. After a week, there was no official response.
Lack of VPN Configuration for macOS Users
As part of their academics, students must establish a virtual private network (VPN) connection into UTEP’s network to do quizzes, exams, or other sensitive work. When users establish a VPN connection, all of their internet traffic is re-routed through that specific VPN’s servers, while the session is active.
The University’s tech support page lists steps for students with Windows or Mac computers to establish a VPN connection. The problem: The page is outdated. The support is for Mac OS X Leopard (v10.5), which was released in 2007!
Hey UTEP, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you ACTUALLY service students who need this to work.
Lack of support for macOS Users
The IT help desk runs banker’s hours and there is always a long wait time when you need assistance, which isn’t too bad if you have time and enjoy elevator music. But here’s the pièce de résistance: The PPTP VPN configuration supported for macOS users became extinct with the release of macOS Sierra.
Talk about a giant blow to the students.
MacOS Sierra was released to Mac owners last month. It is a free upgrade to users, which provides new features, enhancements, and security patches. With its release came the end of the PPTP connection protocol. Initially, I was under the impression Apple did this without warning, however, I later discovered Apple made this known during the beta period in the summer.
Although there was no “official” response from the University or its staff regarding my questions, the morning after I sent the email with my questions, UTEP sent out a bulk email to students listing the steps to establish a VPN with macOS Sierra. Poor way to CYA, UTEP. As of this writing, the University has not updated its VPN support page.
I have spent many years working in the IT industry, from working the help desk to working back-end on the actual network infrastructure, to now doing programming and research in artificial intelligence, and in this time, I’ve learned a few things. To UTEP’s credit, their network is huge and susceptible to attacks from various outside sources for various reasons. It's a constant struggle to maintain a speedy, secure network for students to use 24/7.
We no longer live in an age where IT just entails getting the technical work done. It goes beyond that; collaborating with others, communicating to users, and responding to queries, issues, and requests for comment. It is about helping one another learn what is going on. We live in an age where communication is more important than ever. Heck, this is something we’ve even taught our smart device. So why are we lagging behind in this department? Why are we, the students, suffering the consequences of UTEP’s inaction? Why is the support page still outdated, even after sending emails to students with clarification? This is garbage.
UTEP, you have some work to do and indeed, I will be watching.
