Science & Outdoors
Technology faces age discrimination at UWSP
The Pointer
kbeck271@uwsp.edu
As new students arrived for the school year, old technology was taken out of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point residential halls. That’s right, in-room phones are no more.
UWSP pulled the plug on landlines in the residential halls after many years. The decision was made by several departments on campus, including Residential Living, the Resident Hall Association, the Telephone Support Office and the Chancellor’s Cabinet.
The choice to remove phones from residential hall rooms was not taken lightly. Phone service in the halls, which carried an annual price tag of $400,000, constituted a large chunk of the Telephone Support Office’s budget. One position in the office was affected because of the change said Kathy Wachowiak, director of the Telephone Support Office.
Declining usage was the driving force behind the decision. “We saw that over the years, the use of the phones had been declining to the point where almost nobody was using them anymore,” said Susan Malnory of Residential Living.
This summer, about 1,500 phones were removed from the halls. These phones were recycled and sold through the University’s Surplus Property Store. Students and parents were notified of the change this summer.
Students living in the residential halls aren’t completely cut off from the world, however. A total of 300 new “wing phones” were installed for emergencies in the halls said Wachowiak. Courtesy phones in community areas within the halls are also still working. Approximately 200 hall staff members have phones in their rooms as well.
It is possible for individual students to have their phone reconnected. One month of phone service, including local calls, intercampus calls and voicemail, can be purchased through the Telephone Support Office for $23.59.
Malnory, who has worked at the University for 25 years, said, “I was here when they put them in the rooms. It’s kind of weird to be here long enough to see them come back out again.”
