For most students, the housing lottery and the reception of one's number is a source of much anxiety. Yet, due to a technical glitch the agonizing wait became more excruciating for rising juniors and seniors who did not receive their numbers on time and had to wait four days longer to find out their lottery number. This incident reflects a growing sense of technological backwardness, slow implementation and poor use of the Internet on the part of the school's administration. Such incidents have become increasingly frustrating.The housing process is, in and of itself, a prime example. While many other schools are way ahead of Brandeis in terms of managing the selection process online, our Residence Life seemed, for the first time, to discover e-mail. Students have unsurprisingly filled in the technological gap through the use of student-generated number blogs and Facebook groups that have helped ease anxiety for many. However, we should expect more from our administrators and official sources of information.

Last year, during the selection process, students could only use their computers to watch a slowly updating listing of remaining options that was often minutes or even hours behind. Having to go in person and wait for hours in the International Lounge in Usdan as community advisors usher students around rather than being able to select and rank choices online is a waste of time and resources. Online selection would eliminate many of the current inefficiencies, such as the notion of having to elect a proxy selector.

Residence Life could also improve students' ability to explore housing through the use of technology. Taking images of individual rooms and videos of the various buildings could save students the need to complete the awkward journey to knock on complete strangers' doors to see housing options. Additionally, this would help students who are abroad and can not currently see more than the floor plan of their housing options.

Of course, Residence Life is not the only department that could maximize Internet usage to increase efficiency on campus. Library and Technology Services recently switched from Conway cards to WhoCash for printers in the library. While this move makes sense and reduces the quantity of different cards students have to carry and fund, its implementation revealed the inefficiency in the system of having to buy WhoCash in person in Kutz Hall and only Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

It is vital that students have the ability to add money for printing at will, especially since the library remains open 24 hours during finals period. The Campus Card Office has promised that online purchases with credit cards will soon be available. However, the lack of a mere mention of this new option on their Web site leaves me feeling pessimistic. An even better idea is a system that utilizes both the Internet for credit card purchases and a separate option that allows students to charge copies or laundry loads to their accounts for later payment.

Looking toward academics, we see similar problems. For many students, choosing majors and planning schedules is a daunting task. Currently, students have to reference several resources, including handbooks, as well as present and past course listings in order to determine when a course will next likely be available. Academic Services should develop a Web program or page that would allow students to drag classes they are considering into hypothetical schedules, and to then be able to see what majors, minors and Brandeis requirements they meet.

The Study Abroad office needs to modernize and offer online copies of program evaluations for students to complete when they return from abroad. Currently, they are in inconvenient-to-access folders in the Study Abroad office and often hard to read because they are filled out by hand. Placing this form online and having students fill out a digital copy would help students making difficult decisions between multiple study abroad destinations have more accurate information that they can peruse at their leisure.

Of course, some credit must be given to recent improvements. Last year, course evaluations were handled online, much paper was conserved and the completion rate remained relatively high. Still, the University needs to be aggressive in its continued adoption of technology.

We should not view the accessibility granted by the Internet as a potential threat but as a huge opportunity waiting to be explored and developed upon.