Levi Bulgar still wants new computers.

Tonight Bulgar will again attempt to convince the Apportionment Board to approve a purchase for 16 new computers at a total cost of around $17,000.

Bulgar said the computers he is requesting are based off recommendations from university employees.

“The quotes I am getting are from university employees whose only job is to work with this type of thing.” Bulgar said.

He made his first request on Feb. 7, but AB voted to postpone the decision until more information was provided. Several AB members felt the computers were too expensive at over $1,000 per computer.

“In the end, I hope that AB will see that this is the best way to deal with the situation, and get this over and done with,” Bulgar said. “I understand that this is a lot of money but it reminds me of a saying, ‘anything worth doing, is worth doing well.'”

The computers would replace those in the Student Life Office, where the Student Government, AB, University Board, and other organizations are located.

AB also claimed the features on the computers were too advanced for the users’ basic word processing and Internet browsing needs.

“After speaking to John Henderson, we found out that the newer computers come with a standard 80 gigabyte hard drive and the 160 gigabyte that we are asking for is a free upgrade,” Bulgar said. “If we were to downgrade, it would only save us about $3 per computer.”

The current computers in the office have an average of 30 gigabytes of hard drive space and more than 20 gigabytes of available space.

Computers in the office crashed numerous times last year, viruses were detected several times and many computers currently have USB complications, Bulgar told AB on Feb. 7.

However, some of the computers do not have virus protection and one computer with Ad-Aware SE installed has definitions that are 1,099 days old – that’s nearly three years since an update. Security programs also froze half way through scanning the computers for viruses.

Most of the computers are registered to the Booth Library Open Lab and were sent to the student government after the labs were refurnished.

“I noticed the inter-university recycling of the computers from the Booth Library to the SGA offices, but I feel that it is best to get all new computers now, than to have to do this recycling this every couple of years,” Bulgar said.

AB will also transfer money to student government to cover the newly hired publicist who will maintain the Web site, according to AB chairwoman Leah Pietraszewski.

In new business, student government and campus recreation will also be presenting their proposed budget for next year. Pietraszewski said the remainder of the semester will entail budgeting for next year, and additional allocations for projects can no longer be made.

Rick Kambic can be reached at rwkambic@eiu.edu or 581-7942.