Although some assert that the Web will imminently replace "brick-and-ivy" institutions with online classrooms, Dylan Tweney suggests employing the medium to improve bureaucratic rather than pedagogic processes. For example, the efficiency afforded by the Internet can strengthen offline campus communities with "portal" technologies that enable centralized access to course information, campus events, and administrative tasks. Meanwhile, although the face-to-face interaction, independence, and diversity common to traditional college life can't be replicated online, Tweney says two new startups offer technological ways to bind communities of students, faculty, and staff. Jenzabar, founded by Chai Ling, a veteran of the Tiananmen Square student protests, gives colleges the ability to create portals from a Web interface. Campus Pipeline builds a faculty and student-accessible portal system on top of SCT's university back-office software. Using technology to expedite administration, universities can lower costs and divert more resources to teaching, Tweney says. (InfoWorld 05/17/99 - Edupage May 21, 99