Students trying to contact Communications and Journalism faculty using their office telephone may have some trouble.
Soon, certain faculty members will no longer have an office telephone number for students to use when contacting them, said John Oetzel, chair of Communications and Journalism.
The plan, Oetzel said, will save the department about $15,000, and students still have other options when contacting professors.
“The decision was a department one,” Oetzel said. “Skype or internet is quite doable and some faculty use that already.”
While some faculty may not have direct phone numbers, they are still able to use their e-mail accounts, and they will continue to have regularly held office hours, in addition to personal appointments.
Oetzel said this isn’t the first time the C&J department eliminated landlines, and in the past it hasn’t caused major problems, since students still have other options for contacting their instructors.
“In our department, we have been doing that for several years. It hasn’t appeared to hinder interaction with students at all,” he said. “Faculty are available via e-mail and some use their personal cell phones to interact with students.”
Michael Schneider, a junior, said faculty should have phones as alternative communication, even though they have other options at their disposal.
“For faculty, I feel that a part of their job is to be accessible to students, and not having a working number is a hindrance in that regard,” Schneider said. “Right now, I have a math instructor who doesn’t have an office or office phone number, but he went the distance in giving us the math department’s number with instructions that we can leave a message with them.”
Other students said the lack of phone numbers didn’t bother them.
Senior Claire Armstrong said she generally doesn’t contact her professors by phone, but it might be convenient for instructors to have a phone in their office.
“I prefer to contact them by e-mail anyway,” Armstrong said. “Although I feel like they may like to have an office phone.”
Sean Adcox, a junior, said he prefers meeting with his professors face to face, and the C&J department’s decision is compounded by an influx of students on campus.
“In the past three semesters, this is the most crowded I’ve seen campus” Adcox said.
