Urgent Request against the restriction on USB storage devices in TUS.

To: The ICT Department

Subject: Urgent Request against the restriction on USB storage devices in TUS. 

We, the undersigned students, faculty, and Students Union write to formally bring your attention to the issue with the upcoming restriction on external storage devices. We understand the need for strong cybersecurity, however this blanket restriction severely harms our academic freedom, compromises data backup security, and disrupts the educational workflow of the students across the TUS campus' as we have thousands of digital media students. 

Our OneDrive storage was already cut from 500gb, to 100gb. A single project for us can be over 10 gigabytes, sometimes up to 50. We are also expected to have multiple versions of our projects, to show progress, and as backup versions in case of corruption, or the project breaking. 

Why This Matters 

Disruption of our academic workflow: Our students in Animation, VFX, Game Design, and Creative Media, Engineering, and other courses that work with digital media, have to work with massive files. The cloud storage solutions provided by the university are frequently too slow and lack the bandwidth required for us to edit or render projects in real-time. This takes up a lot of our class time as the internet in the college is too slow to download, and re-upload our files in time to not disrupt class. 

Inadequate Alternatives: Relying solely on internet-based cloud storage disadvantages our students who have slow or unreliable internet access at home. External hard drives allow for offline access to educational materials regardless of a student's living situation. 

Risk of Data Loss: Physical backups are a fundamental best practice in data management. Forcing our students to rely entirely on cloud systems increases the risk of accidental data loss during critical assignments and final projects. 

Our proposed solution is for the university to implement changes. Instead of a total ban, we urge the university to implement a compromise policy that balances the need for better cybersecurity with our academic necessity, such as: 

Device Whitelisting: Allowing students to register their external drives with the IT department after a security scan. 

Designated Editing Stations: Creating secure, isolated networks in specific computer labs (e.g., media labs) where external drives can be used safely.