Cdigix, a digital resource for class-related and extracurricular materials, is now being offered to students as a source of legal movie downloads.
“Just as we are doing an experiment with Napster providing legal music downloads to students, this service will provide students with a legal way to buy movies online,” Provost Charles E. Phelps said. “It is kind of like getting HBO.”
Movies are available either by purchasing a monthly subscription of $5.99 or by purchasing the individual movie for either $3.99 or $1.99, depending on the title.
The service is located at http://cdigix.com/website/cdigix/.
“I hope students will take advantage of this,” Phelps said. “If we are going to talk about illegal downloads, then we should provide a legal way for students to download as well.”
Cdigix is composed of three sections – Clabs, Cflix and Cvillage.
Clabs can be used by professors to allow students to access course-related media from their computer instead of through the library or multimedia center.
Many professors have already started using this service.
Cflix offers both movies and television programs from popular providers. Cvillage can be used for students to publicize their own media for others to view.
“These services will slowly grow,” Phelps said. “People don’t know about its great capability right now. [Compared to other universities,] we are in the forefront of offering this service.”
Other schools that have begun offering the service and had success with it are Yale University and the University of Michigan.
“We are right out at the front of this,” Phelps said. “At the end of this semester we will know more about how widely the service is being used. A lot of classroom material is already being accessed through Cdigix. We are going to see how far we can run with this.”
Interest meetings for
spring elections held
Interest meetings for spring elections for various positions in the class councils and SA Senate are being held on campus for interested students.
“There are eight positions for each class council and three seats open for each class for senate,” SA President Pete Nabozny said.
There are three senatorial positions from the overall undergraduate class.
“[Senior] Tom Hayes, the Speaker of the SA Senate, is going to chair the elections for senate, while Laura Ballou is to chair the elections for class council.”
“A committee consisting of three senate members who are not standing for elections, headed by a student who [can] not be a member of senate, is to supervise the elections,” Nabozny said.
“For class council, students may start campaigning only one week prior to the elections.”
The elections for the President and Vice President will also be held during the spring. The candidates for both the positions have to stand in pairs. All the elections will be held simultaneously from April 4 to 6. Students can vote online at http://sa.rochester.edu. Tables will also be set up at Wilson Commons.
Nabozny is happy about the good turnout at the interest meetings.
“This enthusiasm and competitive attitude is a good indication for the future of student government at UR,” he said.
Reporting by Shweta Krishnan and Emily Paret.
