By Kimberly B. Bates
Pulse Staff Reporter
Palo Alto College is ready for Y2K.
The Alamo Community College District (ACCD) has been preparing for Y2K (Y=Year, K=1,000) for two years in such areas as human resources, student activities, financial aid, the libraries and other computer systems. All application systems are Y2K compliant.
All the fuss about Y2K is over the fact that on Jan. 1, 2000, many computers using a two-digit year will recognize `00 as 1900 and not 2000. This could cause the computer to shut down or to generate incorrect data.
As far as the world outside our school, John Koskinen, Chair of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, said that there is no evidence that major national or regional disruptions will occur in critical systems such as electric power, telephones, banking or Federal government services.
A Y2K Readiness Test for ACCD was performed in April of 1999. The entire computer system was set forward to 11:50 p.m., Dec. 31, 1999, and the clocks were set to rollover to Jan. 1, 2000. The system was brought up again and checked out.
Some problems have also been predicted for Leap Year of 2000 on Feb. 29. A readiness test was also performed for this date and a few minor problems were found and taken care of.
“It's impossible to check everything, but we feel confident,” said Arne Saustrup, Manager of Computer Operations for ACCD. “There's no way we can lose everything,” he said, referring to the ACCD computer system records.
When asked what he thought about Y2K and Palo Alto College, Micah Rowden, a freshman Education major said, “Whatever happens, I'm gonna have to roll with it. Anything can happen or nothing. Who knows?”
Saustrup said that the year 2000 is not a major issue. His best advice for students is to register for classes early.
Registration is currently going on via the Internet and phone registration until Dec. 15 and will continue on Jan. 3, 2000.
Thanks to Y2K, classes for the Spring semester will not begin until Jan. 18, 2000. The week delay is to check computer systems in the ACCD. The semester will be extended a week to make up for the delayed start.
Stephen DeCock, a sophomore Agricultural Engineering major said, “I'm not worried about the school at all.”
There is no need to worry about having to re-register or about financial aid checks. Backups and records have been kept and are being updated regularly in case there are problems resulting from Y2K.
Are you Y2K ready?
The American Red Cross' Y2K Checklist suggests:
Other suggestions include:
Beware of Y2K scams:
For more information about Y2K, visit the following web sites:
