8.30.04

Erskine Freshmen Get New Laptops

Erskine College presented another group of freshmen with free laptop computers during orientation activities last week.

Fifty students received the computers, according to Director of Admissions Bart Walker.

For the past four years, students have been encouraged to make an early commitment to Erskine through the computer giveaway. Called the Early Action program, the initiative has been aimed at identifying students who decide early to come to Erskine, rewarding the first 50 who make a freshman deposit, Walker said.

Two hundred computers have been distributed to students since the program started and most of the students — an estimated 90 percent — are still at Erskine, according to Director of Information Technology Bobby Clarke.

Gateway computers were given to students this year, Clarke said. It is the second time the college has used Gateway.

This year’s computers are the tablet-style personal computers, meaning students can pivot the screen and release it, turn it over and take notes.

“The idea is to allow people to do with a stylus what you’ve traditionally done with a mouse or keyboard,” Clarke said.

The computer services team set up the laptops with a myriad of programs, including the Microsoft Office student-teacher edition.

“We set them up so all they’ve got to do is plug it in their rooms and go,” Clarke said. “We set up e-mail, access to Internet and the Erskine Intranet and installed all the software.”

He estimated that it took about an hour and a half to set up each of the computers.

Students are required to sign a contract that says the computer belongs to them as long as they remain full-time students and graduate.

“If they ever cease to be a full-time student, they give up the computers,” Clarke said.

There are very few students who come to Erskine without computers, he said.

“There were more than 500 computers in the dorms last year,” Clarke said. “The computer has become an indispensable tool for higher education.”

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