Terre Haute Tribune-Star Snubs Hometown School

The Terre Haute Tribune-Star, a puplication I rarely think of since I graduated from college, is running a story about how Indiana State University (in the ‘Haute) will be the “first public university in the state to require all students to have notebook computers“.

After mentioning ISU’s new plan, the article goes on to say that ISU is only “one of a handful of institutions nationally, including the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Clemson University, to institute similar mobile computing initiatives“.

Apparently, the author of this article did not do their homework, at least not very well. The article seems to come directly from the Tribune-Star; it’s not an AP report or reprinted from another publication, so they should have known about this: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a well-known university in town, has had a mandatory laptop program since the class of 1999 began as freshmen in 1995, making that program over 10 years old.

UNC-Chapel Hill appears to have discussed this back in 2004 and has probably implemented it since then. Clemson University started requiring laptops in 2003, and University of Denver (mentioned in the comments) implemented their program back in 1999.

The author not only completely misses the fact that Rose-Hulman has a laptop program, and that it is over 10 years old, but also that there is actually a rather long list of universities that implement laptop programs such as these. The statement that ISU is one of “a handful of institutions nationally” to implement laptop programs is preposterous.

Oddly enough, there is no attribution for the Tribune-Star piece.
I wouldn’t want my name on it, either.