In his State of the Union address last year, President Clinton said that every student in the United States should have access to the Internet and the Information Superhighway.

San Diego State University and the rohan computer are bringing the country one step closer to that goal.

Every registered SDSU student may have an e-mail account ? free ? on rohan, the school’s SunSPARCServer 1000E computer.

A request for a rohan account can be done at any computer on campus, including in the Love Library Student Computing Lab, by using Telnet to log into the rohan computer.

“The student will then be prompted for their name, social security number and phone number. If all fees have been paid and they are registered for at least one class, the screen will display their new username (and further instructions),” said Rebecca Smith, Student Computer Help Desk site consultant.

There are instructions posted next to many terminals in the computer lab, but Help Desk consultants are available to answer questions and assist students in getting started, she said.

Some students were so eager early this semester to get their free e-mail accounts they didn’t wait long enough for their enrollment fees to be processed.

Registration fees take about 48 hours to process, Smith said.

After requesting an account, students must visit the Help Desk in Love Library, Room 220, with picture identification to pick up their accounts. After signing a standard usage agreement, the students will be given a username and password and may begin using the account.

The rohan student accounts are electronic mailboxes only. Rohan is not e-mail software such as Eudora or Claris Emailer.

Rohan is also not an Internet service provider such as Earthlink or America Online, which cost about $20 a month for e-mail and Internet services.

If using the account from off campus, students must have both an Internet dial-up program to get online and an e-mail-reading software program to retrieve and send mail messages.

The rohan e-mail address is like a phone number, which, without phone service, doesn’t do any good.

Students can download the software for free, or visit the Student Computer Help Desk in Love Library, Room 220, to get help procuring it.

Most computers on campus are already equipped with Eudora, Netscape Navigator and a connection to the Internet.

Student accounts will stay active until one semester after the last class taken at SDSU, according to the student account procedure handout #0500 (available on the Internet at http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/0500stud.html or in hard copy in Love Library, Room 220).

The Help Desk is available to answer questions including any difficulties that students may have with rohan. The number is 594-3189, and the Web site is located at http://rohan.sdsu.edu/~schd.