With cell phones becoming the primary mode of communication for students, student housing is looking to reduce landlines in residence halls.
Residence Hall Association discussed the issue Feb. 9.

Jonathan Predaina, sophomore technical education major, is a member of RHA and attended the meeting. A motion was raised that read, “RHA supports the removal of the landlines with flexibility,” The motion passed with a 17-3-0 vote.
Campuses around the state have also been looking into this topic. UW-Stout is discussing removal of landlines while UW-River Falls has proposed to do so by Summer 2009.

Each year cell phone use increases and landline use decreases. In a 2007 survey of 1,939 responses, 88 percent preferred using their cell phone while 5 percent said they preferred using their landline.

UW-P would save quite a bit of money with the switch. The phone bill for the month of November was $15,874. Currently there are 1,400 phone lines on campus.
Student housing is looking to reduce landlines, but not completely. They hope to keep landlines at the resident director’s office and apartment, main desk, courtesy phone at the main desk, computer rooms, staff rooms, elevators and some common rooms, thus reducing lines between 200 and 300.

Not everyone seemed excited about the possible change. Whitney Rathke, sophomore agricultural business major and Wilgus Hall resident assistant, was not impressed by the recent discussion. Rathke prefers using her landline.

“Most likely because of my RA position it is very convenient to have the landline and the ability to call other residents who have a landline in their rooms,” Rathke said.

The phone industry has changed in the last few years. More people are using their cell phone, and with college students not using their landlines as much, student housing is trying to be as efficient as they can. With RHA’s support, student housing is hoping to make changes this summer for the fall 2009 semester.