Spring Break
Land lines removed from dorms, savings used for upgrades
Janie Boschma
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: Campus News
When returning to the dorms this fall, students will notice brand new desk chairs in each room.
The chairs, along with an upper campus network upgrade, will be purchased with money saved from disconnecting telephone lines in dorm rooms, said Peter Rejto, assistant director for budget and physical plant operations at the Housing and Residence Life Office.
Rejto said landlines cost about $220 per room for a full calendar year. At 2,000 rooms, he said that translates to nearly $500,000 in annual phone costs.
The United Hall Council recently recommended disconnecting phones after extensive research, including a review of fall 2006 AT&T statements that reported about 70 percent of all rooms made zero calls, he said.
A May 2006 residence life survey found that about 90 percent of UW-Eau Claire dorm-dwellers owned cell phones and nearly 85 percent used only their cell phone for calls, Rejto said.
One of these students is junior Justin Aukema, who keeps his room phone unplugged.
"I use my cell phone pretty much all the time," he said, adding he is looking forward to new chairs. "I use my chair a lot more than my phone line."
Rejto said the disconnection is going to be a non-issue for most students.
"To date, we've not received a single note of concern from students or parents," he said Friday afternoon.
Vice Chancellor of Business and Student Services Andy Soll said disconnecting the lines would allow for better use of student room payments, "rather than having them pay for something they're not using."
Rejto said the network upgrade would result in fewer occasions of down networks. The network switches are several years old and are in need of replacement, he said, adding the upgrade will cost about $500,000 and will occur over the summer.
Though freshman Samantha Nelson is glad Eau Claire is looking for areas to cut expenses, she said new chairs seem like unnecessary purchases.
"I was hoping they'd lower tuition and not buy more stuff," she said.
Rejto said students can request a landline in their room for $90 per semester.
One or two house telephones will be located on each floor of every residence hall for students to make local calls or long distance calls with a calling card, Rejto said.
Soll said there will also be a telephone in each resident assistant's room and in hall directors' offices for emergencies.
Though most students will no longer have a local phone number to list in the student directory, he said the administration will not require students to list their cell phone numbers. Soll also said they will not require students to have cell phones.
The chairs, along with an upper campus network upgrade, will be purchased with money saved from disconnecting telephone lines in dorm rooms, said Peter Rejto, assistant director for budget and physical plant operations at the Housing and Residence Life Office.
Rejto said landlines cost about $220 per room for a full calendar year. At 2,000 rooms, he said that translates to nearly $500,000 in annual phone costs.
The United Hall Council recently recommended disconnecting phones after extensive research, including a review of fall 2006 AT&T statements that reported about 70 percent of all rooms made zero calls, he said.
A May 2006 residence life survey found that about 90 percent of UW-Eau Claire dorm-dwellers owned cell phones and nearly 85 percent used only their cell phone for calls, Rejto said.
One of these students is junior Justin Aukema, who keeps his room phone unplugged.
"I use my cell phone pretty much all the time," he said, adding he is looking forward to new chairs. "I use my chair a lot more than my phone line."
Rejto said the disconnection is going to be a non-issue for most students.
"To date, we've not received a single note of concern from students or parents," he said Friday afternoon.
Vice Chancellor of Business and Student Services Andy Soll said disconnecting the lines would allow for better use of student room payments, "rather than having them pay for something they're not using."
Rejto said the network upgrade would result in fewer occasions of down networks. The network switches are several years old and are in need of replacement, he said, adding the upgrade will cost about $500,000 and will occur over the summer.
Though freshman Samantha Nelson is glad Eau Claire is looking for areas to cut expenses, she said new chairs seem like unnecessary purchases.
"I was hoping they'd lower tuition and not buy more stuff," she said.
Rejto said students can request a landline in their room for $90 per semester.
One or two house telephones will be located on each floor of every residence hall for students to make local calls or long distance calls with a calling card, Rejto said.
Soll said there will also be a telephone in each resident assistant's room and in hall directors' offices for emergencies.
Though most students will no longer have a local phone number to list in the student directory, he said the administration will not require students to list their cell phone numbers. Soll also said they will not require students to have cell phones.
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