Whitelist?

[Keith Privett]

I spent a little time talking to actual current students during alumni weekend
the ones hanging out by the swing between Bryan and Hill, not the volunteers.
The future Marci's and Jamie Davis' of the world.

The bad news: a couple of their friends are into 80's nostalgia way too much. I
explained that we actually listened to as much 60's or 70's music as 80's in
'86. ("Nights in White Satin" was released before many of us '86ers were born.
"Time Warp" is from a 1975 film.)

The good news: a club equivalent to the "gay-straight alliance" having troubles
getting meeting space at other schools has about 80 members. And kids still
want to beat the system.

The fun news: There is a small patch of grass between the swing, Reynolds, the
Bryan "Pit" and the "old laundry" room. The kid's have nicknamed it "cheeba"

The bad news: on Sept. 7 or so, NCSSM's wi-fi network went to a "whitelist"
blocking approach for web access, limiting users to sites explicitly approved
by administrators (as opposed to the more reasonable, if leaky "blacklist"
approach used in most work places. This can greatly limit access to useful, but
more obscure websites. Even more innocuous social networking sites are off.
Once again NCSSM puts the "loco" in "in loco parentis."

The good news: The students are still smart and tech-savvy enought to have
figured out multiple ways around this obstacle...

The bad news: That just furthers the distrust between both sides.

The good news: They don't have to format term papers on a VAX!

Keith Privett '86

The footnote: I didn't read it in the news but in looking up the year for "Time
Warp," I learned that the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was one of 25 named 
to the National Film Registry in December 2005, making it one of 425 films that
the Library of Congress will work to ensure is preserved for all time.
http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2005.html