As the Instructional Technology Support system is being overhauled, new labs are opening. The Student Government Association is investigating “mismanagement” as old, popular labs are bearing the burden of staff cuts. Tom Bonvillain, director of academic computer services, declined to comment on the issue.

Alcie Maxwell, arts and sciences senator for the SGA, said the SGA has been investigating rumors of “mismanagement” of the technology fee funds.

“The mismanagement came to our attention because students complained about the lack of workers in the computer labs and Instructional Technology lab workers, whose employment’s are provided by the technology fee funds, complained about the lack of hours,” Maxwell said.

Nicole Perero, director of students’ rights and grievances for the SGA, former WAC lab employee and current member of the technology fee committee, said a reallocation of funds effective at the start of this semester has put a strain on computer labs funded through the technology fee.

“The only labs that the technology fees will be in charge of anymore are the main labs, like the WAC lab and the Cenac Labs,” Perero said.

Once the Betsy Cheramie Ayo Hall opens, the nursing department’s lab will also be funded by the technology fee.

Prior to this semester, the labs in each department were all funded by the technology fee.

“These took up about $10,000 of the total money,” Perero said.

With the changes, the departmental labs are funded by their respective departments.

Perero said that because of the cuts, the labs still funded by the fee operated at “barebone structure” for the first four weeks of the semester. This means that the WAC lab operated with one person on the floor and one receptionist.

A second floor person has been added, and more will be added for midterm and finals.

“Earlier in the semester, we were told that there were few funds to hire any workers in the labs, and lab workers’ and technicians’ hours were cut drastically,” Maxwell said.

Perero said the WAC lab was once adequately staffed.

“When I first started working there, we had 50 people working for us.”

She said Bonvillain began making staff cuts last fall.

“He cut it from 50 to 20. That’s a big cut. This semester they started off with, I believe, 13 to 15 students. That’s very barebone,” Perero said.

She said some student-workers were laid off to accommodate more qualified ones.

“The main problem, in my opinion, is that people are there that don’t know what they’re doing,” she said.

“I don’t think that students would even notice that there are not as many in the lab if the people in the lab know what they’re doing.”

Perero said employment in the WAC labs, where employees are tested in computer programs, is one of the better paying jobs on campus for students.

“For every two tests you take, you get a 50 cent raise,” she said.

Perero said, however, that some students are not tested until several weeks into their employment. She suggested the lab should have student workers attend a workshop and be given a manual at the beginning of their employments.

“The other thing that hit the budget hard is that he [Bonvillain] hired a new lady. She is making about $32,000, and he took that out of the technology fee. That took away from the funds that the students can have,” Perero said.

She said the technology fee committee approved of the hiring under the mistaken assumption that it would not adversely affect student labor funds.

The technology fee is $5 per credit hour with a ceiling at $60, thus any student carrying 12 hours or more pays $60.

One idea discussed was raising the ceiling to $100 — the amount corresponding to a 20 hour load.

Perero, however, said she is opposed to an immediate fee increase.

“We don’t think the technology fee needs to be raised this year or next year. If it ever needs to be raised, we think it should be like two to three years down the road when the students are used to paying the tuition increase,” she said.

“I think they need to increase the staff, and that they definitely need to keep the labs open during the breaks for the students.”

Perero said she spoke to Bonvillain on the issue.

“We talked about the rumor that the lab would be closed during the holidays, instead of open like it normally is with the library,” she said.

Since the Mardi Gras break is the week before midterms, closing during the holidays, she said, would cause problems around midterms and during spring break.

Perero said many students use the holidays to work on major projects.

Maxwell still questions the efficiency of the labs.

“Perhaps the real question is if there are guidelines to prevent the mismanagement of tech fee money, how did this happen?” he said.

“Since summer 2000, which is included in the same fiscal year as this semester, there were some three programmers that worked in Tom’s office. They were supposed to produce programs for the labs/school to enhance the academic experience.

“Whereas the average employment for a worker in the lab is approximately $750 a semester, these programmers were receiving about $3,500 each to produce programs,” he said.

Maxwell said these programmers were undergraduate workers.

“This dramatically affected the employment allocation. And what programs do they have to show for it now? Many will point to a swipe-card system for the labs, but that has been in the works for years,” Maxwell said.

One of the programmers to which Maxwell referred disputed the claims.

“If this Alcie Maxwell guy wants to claim that we did not do any work, then he can take that up with me anytime. We put out several quality programs,” Jeremy Becnel, mathematics and computer science senior from Bayou Boeuf, said.

However, Becnel, Maxwell and Perero all said the issue has been resolved.

“After the SGA investigation, $39,000 was miraculously found,” Maxwell said.

Perero said the staffs will thus be augmented.

“[A total of] $39,000 is left in the budget, which is more than what they expected. Therefore, there will be an increase in the student workers in the lab. They will have about four student workers in the WAC lab at all times and two in the Cenac labs at all times,” she said.

The labs will be open at the same time as the library during the breaks.

“There is a new lab opening. It’s going to be an open lab in 120 Peltier. This lab is being funded by a grant by Dr. [Olivia] Pass,” Perero said.

She also said the Ellender residence hall has a new computer lab. The lab is only for residence hall students and will be open 24 hours per day.