Oh no!: they want me to support students' computers...?

At the start of the academic year in 2003, students with virus-ridden computers inundated the Simmons College Help Desk. They dropped off their machines, making it difficult for the Help Desk team to determine priorities. Technicians were virtually unable to serve faculty and staff, despite an unwritten policy that students were only provided phone support. In addition, students whose residence hall room network ports had been turned off, whether for compromising the network or for a file sharing violation, became confused, frustrated, and often irritated about what had happened and what to do. In the absence of written policies, student expectations were that the Help Desk was there exclusively to serve their needs. The solution: Self-Help Clinics, and written guidelines establishing what support is available to students.This paper describes the issues and events that led Technology at Simmons College to devise the clinics, and how the clinics have grown and changed since their inception in January 2004. It also describes the process of establishing written guidelines for support, and the ongoing challenges we face in providing limited support to students.