Ohio University officials are attempting to stay afloat while riding the technology wave. But computer advancements increase convenience and limit interpersonal communication.

Conveniences in residence halls and changes in our society all have affected campus life at OU by discouraging interpersonal communication, said Joe Burke, director of residence life.

The university purchased more than 2,000 computers and printers for first-year students' rooms. A plan to increase OU's room and board fees 8 percent each year, which started last year, for the next three years is financing the computers.

Sophomore Kim Dezsi said technology reduces face-to-face communication.

"You end up sending e-mail to professors instead of stopping by their office hours, and sometimes I just chat on the computer with friends down the hall," she said.

But some students said that while the university-provided computers are convenient, most professors do not give computer assignments.

Freshman Jon Boyd said other than word processing, he has used his university-provided computer only once, for a basic computer competence task in his UC 115 class.

McCarthy said she only utilizes the computer in her room to type papers.

Still, other students said computer ownership would be essential for classes specifically for their majors. Freshman Jaclyn Belanger, an interior design major, said her advisor suggested she purchase a computer later in her college career to complete computer-aided design projects.

Freshman Kristin McCarthy said communicating via her computer is convenient and decreases her long distance phone bill.

"I talk to all of my friends here face-to-face, but I talk to my friends at other colleges online," she said.

Burke said the expanding role of college is linked more to students' desire for a sense of community than to in loco parentis - the idea that colleges are substitute parents.

"Ironically, due to technology there are more ways to stay in touch, but we aren't communicating face to face," he said. "That is what students are looking for."

Rather than focusing on common ideas and characteristics, special advocacy groups - focusing on more specific interests - are the fastest growing groups on campus, Burke said.

"It's a double-edged sword. The smaller the group, the more students feel connected," he said. "But in a large group, you don't feel a connection with others."

With improved technology also comes an increased sense of isolation. Additional conveniences have decreased the opportunity for community interaction in residence halls, Burke said.

"Before there was only one television in the main lounge of residence halls that served as a meeting place," he said. "But now everyone is watching the same thing separately."