Riverside, Calif., May, 2000--Got new computers? The La Sierra business school does - in spades.

A May 8 ribbon-cutting ceremony with La Sierra President Larry Geraty marked the official opening of a newly refurbished School of Business and Management computer lab. In one fell swoop, the school replaced 22 older computers with 22 brand new Dell Pentium IIIs. The lab also is home to a new high-end Hewlett-Packard printer.

The computers - including 8 new machines for the school's faculty - were shipped and installed during the week of May 1. On May 8, only a fancy red ribbon stood between business students and high tech heaven.

"This is the equivalent of going from a bicycle to a Ferrari," said a metaphor-ready Randy Cox, a senior business administration major from Pomona. The former computers - Pentium 75 wonders - were purchased in 1995. That's recent history for household appliances, but the Stone Ages in computer time.

As appreciated as they are, new computers on a college campus are not exactly novel. But the means by which the La Sierra business school acquired its new machines is, said Johnny Thomas, School of Business and Management dean.

In fall 1999, students approached their dean with a request: Lead us to the "Pentium Promised Land" with computers that run the latest business software.

The usual budgetary constraints did not daunt the entrepreneurial minded Thomas. He formed a fund-raising committee among his faculty and together they set out to bridge the school's growing digital divide. By the end of winter quarter, they had raised the $42,000 needed for the new computers. As is the case in recent La Sierra history, the money primarily came from a likely source - university alumni who wanted to help their alma mater, and who were responsive to Thomas' persistent entreaties on behalf of his students.

With the new machines, the business school can go forward with Thomas' ambitious plan to establish a La Sierra online trading center for students.

"We're going to do whatever it takes to give our students the tools they need to succeed," said a smiling Thomas said as students crowded into their new technological digs, checking out all the bells and whistles that 530 megahertz and 128 megs of RAM allow.

Now to keep them away from "StarCraft."

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Johnny Thomas' e-mail is jthomas@lasierra.edu.