Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday, February 9, 1999
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 4
CAMPUS
Morehouse systems: Are they ready for 2000?
Continued from page 1
represent "forever." Much
of the public's awareness on
the Y2K issue has come from
the mass media, which has
shifted its stance of labeling
the early proponents of Y2K
readiness as 'doom and
gloom' nay-sayer's, to
accurately informing the
public of the massive efforts
being made by corporations
around the globe. Despite
the unpredictable nature of
the effects that Y2K will
have, we must realize that
all date sensitive computers
will be affected. "Will
Morehouse College be
ready?"
Until recently, the
system of utilizing long
lines to first clear financial
aid, receive a permit to
register, then enroll in a
course, had not been
compacted into an efficient,
internet-based process.
However, the Y2K bug
threatens the security of
such an efficient process.
Furthermore, if Y2K impacts
banks and Financial Aid
sources as predicted, then
the results could be
catastrophic. Imagine
leaving Morehouse for
Winter Break dependent on
a loan to be transmitted
electronically to your
account and returning at
the start of the semester to
find that you cannot enroll
due to a system error.
At the helm of the fight
to protect Morehouse
interests, is Dr. John Foster,
Vice Provost for the Office
of Information
Technologies. Dr. Foster
serves as the chairman for
the Morehouse College Y2K
Task Force, an organization
comprised of 21 Morehouse
officials. Each member
serves a committee that
isolates the various
potential problems
associated with Y2K.
In order to reach the
June 1999 deadline, the
Morehouse College Y2K
Taskforce has compiled a
six-month plan. The
strategy is summarized as a
two-level plan for
categorizing and
addressing Y2K readiness,
as well as a contingency
plan. Morehouse College
constituency should be
relieved to learn that the
college is approximately
90% Y2K ready. Of the
remaining 10%,
approximately 5% of date-
sensitive systems are
manufactured by vendors
who claim to have a Y2K
program that will be
released in February or
March. The remaining 5%
are the labeled as
questionable. The
estimated $20,000 budget
set aside for this matter, is
nowhere near the
multibillion dollars
investments of wealthy
corporations, yet
Morehouse stands to gain
from their investments as a
protected clientele. Of
course, if by worst case
scenario, the 8 million
dollars of financial aid that
Morehouse students
receive by electronic
transfer is unavailable for
the Spring 2000 semester,
Dr. Foster reports that the
Y2K Taskforce plans to
finance the students
provided that the funds
would become available at
a later date. He also reports
that Y2K test programs have
been successfully run on
most campus systems.
"The greatest error that
occurred in some cases was
a one digit date error,"
Foster stated.
Grover Simmons,
Director of Administrative
Data Processing for the
AUC, Inc. is chairman of the
AUC Y2K taskforce. His role
has been one of structural
support for the Academic
Computer Center housed
within the Robert Woodruff
Library. He also organized a
preliminary meeting last
October, which served the
purpose of connecting the
task force representatives of
each individual AUC
institution. This team will
reconvene later this month
to revisit the problems that
each institution's technology
may face in the year 2000.
"The AUC Y2K task force
will act as a support
mechanism for our
institutions which may not
be compliant as the deadline
approaches. We expect a few
problems, but not the
massive terror that the
preachers predict," Simmons
reassures.
In terms of student
preparation, the Morehouse
College Taskforce plans to
orient the Student Body
within the next few weeks
with regards to Y2K
readiness. Some speculators
encourage survivalist
preparations: food, water,
heat, weapons, etc. Dr.
Foster does not see these
measures as being
necessary. He does
recommend making disk
copies of computer data,
and preparing for potential
loss of material composed
on dated systems. Students
should be prepared to
weather the storm of Y2K.
After all, it always better to
be prepared for the worst
and have it never come than
to be hit by an onslaught
and not be ready.
The Maroon Tiger is looking
for creative, diligent
students who are interested
in contributing to the layout
and art design of the paper.
Must be familiar with
Pagemaker 6.5 and
Photoshop 5.0. Interested
students should come by the
offfice in room 112 in the
basement of Archer Hall, or
contact us at (404) 614-6041.
An unquantifiable donation
Continued from page 1 kidneys. "My initial thought was going through with the
her disturbed the normal flow of
thing," said Davis. "It became
hard to concentrate on school and
I felt separated from her and
helpless." Morehouse
Administrator and former
Resident Director of Fair Street
Dorms, M'Ronald Keith Tuck also
noticed the stress Davis was going
through. "He was thinking of
pulling out of school,' said Tuck.
Administrators such as Tuck,
as well as other students provided
the emotional and psychological
support Davis needed at such a
trying time. "I remember one day
I was just bawling on the phone. I
couldn't stop crying, but some
brothers came by, and instead of
laughing at me, they talked to me.
This is the kind of brotherhood I
was looking for at when I came to
Morehouse," said Davis. The
support he received from his
Morehouse brothers and his
father, who insisted he stay in
school convince d Davis to
weather out the school year.
As time passed, and it
became apparent that Ms. Davis
would need a kidney, she
remained adamant that none of
her four children go through the
ordeal of donating one of their
that I didn't want my children
going through what
I was going through," said
Beverly Davis. However, as her
husband and numerous family
members and friends were unable
to provide a suitable kidney,
Anthony secretly got involved.
Because finding matches for
Black kidney patients can be
difficult, Anthony contacted
Georgetown to learn more about
being a donor. While roughly half
of all patients needing kidney
transplants are black, only fifteen
percent of donors are black. While
interracial and inter-gender
donations are not unheard of,
according to Johnson, the doctor
who performed the procedure,
the chances of success are much
better when donor and recipient
are from a like group. As a rule,
because of the shortage of suitable
donors, Blacks are likely to wait
longer for a transplant.
"I remember one day she got
a letter telling her that one of her
potential donors had failed to be
a match," said Davis. "She started
crying. That's when I decided that
I was going to do it" Davis had
passed the tissue match tests and
approached his mother about
transplant. She finally caved in
to his unselfish offer, but only
under the condition that all testing
would be done during school
breaks, and the operation would
occur during Christmas break, so
as not to interrupt Anthony's
schoolwork.
This past break, ten days
before Christmas, mother and son
lay down for the operation, and
under Dr. Johnson's watchful eye,
the operation went smoothly.
Both are making swift recoveries.
"As soon as they put the kidney
in her, it started working. She said
it keeps her running o the
bathroom, which is good, I
guess," said Davis.
As Christmas approached,
and the family began giving gifts,
they can rest assured the greatest
gift, that of life, had already been
given. "We've always been close,"
said Ms. Davis, "and I'm sure we
will be even closer now that I have
a part of him inside me. It is the
best Christmas gift I could have."