On the social media website Reddit, under a subforum dedicated to discussions about NJIT, an NJIT student reported Wednesday that IT staff asked them to shut down their wireless router. The student cited visiting dignitaries as the reason; NJIT officials said the router’s WiFi network had a vulgar name.

The student had set up a personal WiFi network named “njitWifiSucks” in Weston Hall, which houses the College of Architecture and Design. IT staff tracked the source of the router to this student, who was asked to shut down the network; the student complied. That day, various New Jersey state officials, including Senator Cory Booker, happened to be present in the building for the announcement of the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII). This student claims that their network was shut down because important state personnel were present.

“I would have asked that it be taken down whether we discovered it during Tuesday’s event or at any other time,” said David Ullman, Chief Information Officer. He cited NJIT’s Acceptable Use of Computing Resources Policy, which states:

Anyone who uses our cyber resources has the responsibility to respect and follow this Acceptable Use Policy for Cyber Resources and to honor the ethical norms associated with the highest standards of professional conduct.

“The student in question added to our network a wireless router with a name that contained a generally considered vulgar term,” said Ullman. “Therefore, use of such is inconsistent with the highest standards of professional conduct.” Both Ullman and Peter Teklinski, Director of Telecommunications and Networks, emphasize that the network was asked to be taken down because of the “vulgar nature of its name,” independent of other reasons.

The student stated that they had initially set up their own router and network because NJIT’s connection was inadequate. Teklinski shared the current status of NJIT wireless infrastructure upgrades.

Project Technology Re-Fresh (Project TechFresh), a $6.35 million initiative, involves the installation of new cabling and network switches to expand NJIT’s current wireless network. The upgrades are expected to complete by September this year. Some changes include replacing outdated 10 Mb Ethernet ports with new 1Gb ports, and offering wireless coverage throughout the campus, including the residence halls. Currently, only the Honors dorm has complete building-wide wireless coverage. Going forward, all wireless networks on campus will be the NJIT and NJITSecurenetworks, which are more secure and have simpler authentication methods than the old njit network.

Building Cabling Network Switches Wireless Kupfrian N/A Completed (Mar 2013) Completed (Aug 2010) York September 2014 Completed (May 2012) Completed (May 2012) Faculty Memorial N/A Completed (Aug 2012) Completed (Aug 2012) Central Avenue Building Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Completed (Sept 2013) Completed (Sept 2012) GITC Completed (Oct 2012) Completed (May 2013) Completed (Nov 2012) Campus Center N/A Completed (May 2013) Completed (Jan 2013) Student Mall & Parking Deck N/A June 2014 Completed (Jan 2013) Eberhardt N/A N/A Completed (Nov 2013) MEC N/A Completed (Oct 2012) May 2014 – Jun 2014 Fenster N/A Completed (Jun 2013) May 2014 – Jun 2014 Weston N/A Completed (Jan 2013) Apr 2014 – May 2014 ECEC & Micro Electronics Jul 2014 – Aug 2014 May 2014 Jul 2014 – Aug 2014 Tiernan Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Completed (Aug 2013) Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Colton & Campbell N/A Completed (Jan 2014) Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Cullimore Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Completed (March 2014) Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Fleischer Athletic Center Jul 2014 – Aug 2014 April 2014 Jul 2014 – Aug 2014 Specht Aug 2014 – Sept 2014 May 2014 Aug 2014 – Sept 2014 Residence Halls (all) N/A Completed (Aug 2012) August 2014

Status and planned schedule of NJIT network upgrades. Courtesy of Peter Teklinski.

Yvonne Chen