Phone rage

By now, we have all been informed that CampusLink made a terrible error last year when they left dial tones on all dorm phones, even those that had not signed up for phone service. Now, I could be wrong, but it seems that if this error had been costing CampusLink money, they surely would have caught the mistake before the year was up and corrected it. The curious fact that they let it go on all year was taken by many to be an unspoken but understood agreement that this is how things would continue. The students certainly received no information to the contrary.

In the absence of even on-campus calling for those who do not sign up for CampusLink service, there is an understandable degree of rage. Not only is this bad business and publicity for CampusLink, but it defeats the purpose of having an intra-campus phone system in the first place and introduces some safety hazards.

Each room is assigned a four-digit number that can (in theory) be reached from anywhere on campus. This is a system similar to most office buildings. It allows the students to contact each other, as well as professors and other resources around campus. It is a convenient system that facilitates communication among all members of the Tufts community. Now, Tufts requires that we keep track of our (free) Tufts e-mail address, as we are responsible for important announcements sent to it. In the past, we have also received important announcements through our phone system. While these announcements could now be relegated to e-mail, it would be far more convenient, and the system is already in place, to have two possible ways to reach any given student. It has worked in the past, and it should continue in the future.

Also, one of the main reasons for the blue light phones' existence is the capability of going to someone's dorm and being able to call their room to be let into the building. Just because I may have a cell phone does not mean all my friends do, so those who do not have one, not to mention off-campus visitors, have no way of contacting me from outside my building. Why even have the system if only some of the students can use it? On-campus calling is such a banal service that it should be as readily available as Internet access.

Aside from the convenience argument, there is the far graver concern of safety. The Dean of Students sent out an e-mail reminding students how to contact the Tufts police by an outside phone in case of emergency. The e-mail carries the strong implication that Tufts assumes any student who does not have the CampusLink service to have a cell phone.

While this may be a reasonable assumption, it is not necessarily a true one, and in dealing with safety, it is better to err on the side of caution. There may be 60 blue-light emergency phones scattered about the campus, but this does little for those students for whom the phones are inconvenient, or even impossible, to get to.

Consider the following thought experiment: Mary lives in the 450s on the fourth floor of Lewis. What happens if some gun-wielding maniac piggybacks in to the dorm, goes upstairs, and finds Mary's door open? Once she realizes this person is a potential assailant, she has two choices: Try to slam the door and deadbolt it as fast as possible, or try to make a run for the emergency phone, which is downstairs and across the building.

The smarter thing to do is to slam the door and lock it. Now, if Mary for whatever reason does not have a cell phone, she is in quite a bind. There is an attacker outside her door, and she has no way to call TUPD. Even if she did have a cell phone, there is the possibility that it is out of battery power, or even more frustrating, that the network is busy. Again, this is not terribly likely, but in watching out for safety, we have to assume the worst.

Students need a free-of-charge landline that can make on-campus calls, for safety if not for overwhelming convenience.

One of the ideals good business is that both sides of the deal benefit. It creates an atmosphere of mutual respect, and brings a kind of symmetry to the agreement. Both sides are on even ground. However, CampusLink has shown a repeated lack of respect, or even acknowledgement, to the students it is supposedly serving.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the students received no information that the dial tones last year were a mistake; we received no notification that things would be different this year until well after we had already moved in. CampusLink complains that they continue to lose customers in spite of decreasing rates. Perhaps they would be surprised to see how far service with a smile can take a business.

Joe Tuggle is a senior majoring in physics.