2008 Woodie Awards
Professors throw out office phones
Departments, not university, can save money with decision
By: Robin Nagayda
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
Students who need to contact Ricky Buerkel can call his office phone number, but only his voicemail will ever pick up.
Buerkel, an assistant professor of communications and dramatic arts, is one of a small group of professors at CMU who decided to have their office phones removed because of the costs associated with keeping them in operation.
He still has voicemail, which he does check, but he can not make or receive calls on the line.
However, not having an office line has not been much of a problem for Buerkel.
"It hasn't changed my teaching experience at all, simply because nobody ever calls me," he said.
Buerkel said most of his students contact him via e-mail, a method he prefers.
"I think it is a better approach," Buerkel said. "If they need to get a hold of me, e-mail is a very effective way."
Removing office lines as a way to save money was suggested during a faculty meeting last semester, Buerkel said.
The university asked departments to cut expenditures without sacrificing quality instruction, said Nancy Buerkel-Rothfuss, communications area coordinator for the department of communications and dramatic arts.
Removing office lines made sense because many faculty members give out cell phone numbers to students, and all of them provide e-mail addresses, Buerkel-Rothfuss said.
"I would say 99 percent of my correspondence on campus, be it with students or administrators, occurs via e-mail," she said. "Why spend money every month for a device that is almost never used?"
Buerkel-Rothfuss said she offered to give up her phone line, but it was never actually disconnected.
Mark McDonald, director of networks, said removing office lines will save money for individual departments, but saves the university nothing.
The university owns and operates its own telephone system, which it does efficiently and without much cost, McDonald said.
"Departments pay around $30 (a month) for a desk set, but that money goes to the telecommunications department," he said. "So when you pay your desk set phone bill, that money doesn't leave the university."
Money from phone bills helps run and maintain the university network and supports other Information Technology services, McDonald said.
"If everybody were to have their desk sets removed, there would have to be charges for the network or other services because that money is simply gone for the IT department, and that money would have to be made up some other way," he said.
McDonald said professors or departments interested in removing phone lines must contact network services, and few have done so. However, as long as the telephone system is in place, he said faculty and staff should utilize it.
"We need to use the campus system to the fullest degree that we can," he said. "We have to have it anyway"
news@cm-life.com
Buerkel, an assistant professor of communications and dramatic arts, is one of a small group of professors at CMU who decided to have their office phones removed because of the costs associated with keeping them in operation.
He still has voicemail, which he does check, but he can not make or receive calls on the line.
However, not having an office line has not been much of a problem for Buerkel.
"It hasn't changed my teaching experience at all, simply because nobody ever calls me," he said.
Buerkel said most of his students contact him via e-mail, a method he prefers.
"I think it is a better approach," Buerkel said. "If they need to get a hold of me, e-mail is a very effective way."
Removing office lines as a way to save money was suggested during a faculty meeting last semester, Buerkel said.
The university asked departments to cut expenditures without sacrificing quality instruction, said Nancy Buerkel-Rothfuss, communications area coordinator for the department of communications and dramatic arts.
Removing office lines made sense because many faculty members give out cell phone numbers to students, and all of them provide e-mail addresses, Buerkel-Rothfuss said.
"I would say 99 percent of my correspondence on campus, be it with students or administrators, occurs via e-mail," she said. "Why spend money every month for a device that is almost never used?"
Buerkel-Rothfuss said she offered to give up her phone line, but it was never actually disconnected.
Mark McDonald, director of networks, said removing office lines will save money for individual departments, but saves the university nothing.
The university owns and operates its own telephone system, which it does efficiently and without much cost, McDonald said.
"Departments pay around $30 (a month) for a desk set, but that money goes to the telecommunications department," he said. "So when you pay your desk set phone bill, that money doesn't leave the university."
Money from phone bills helps run and maintain the university network and supports other Information Technology services, McDonald said.
"If everybody were to have their desk sets removed, there would have to be charges for the network or other services because that money is simply gone for the IT department, and that money would have to be made up some other way," he said.
McDonald said professors or departments interested in removing phone lines must contact network services, and few have done so. However, as long as the telephone system is in place, he said faculty and staff should utilize it.
"We need to use the campus system to the fullest degree that we can," he said. "We have to have it anyway"
news@cm-life.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Nick Smith
posted 2/06/08 @ 9:58 PM EST
Ha. A likely story. Some professors probably just less access to them from students. If I had a dime for every time someone, anyone I knew when I was a student at CMU complained about not being able to get through to a professor. (Continued…)
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