DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997             TAG: 9703260450

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   22 lines

ODU TO REPLACE 200 COMPUTERS IN STUDENT LABS

Old Dominion University will replace about 200 computers in its student labs this fall, members of the Faculty Senate said Tuesday.

The senate passed a proposal to upgrade the labs by adding 200 ``modern machines with Internet access and current software.'' Administrators have already agreed to enact the plan by the fall semester, faculty members said.

G. Hill Price, a computer science lecturer, said the 200 to 250 computers now in the university's ``general-purpose'' labs are in a ``pretty sorry state.'' Some of the software is 10 years old, he said, and several of the computers cannot use the programs assigned in classes. ``We have the obligation to teach them with modern equipment as best we can,'' he said.

Adding the computers will cost about $300,000 to $400,000, Price said.

The faculty panel also tabled a proposal to start a two-day fall break for further discussion.

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