Many changes have taken place within the res­i­dence halls since last spring. From the removal of room tele­phones to the dif­fer­ent loca­tion of the hous­ing office, Director of Housing Dr. Jon Shaffer believes all of these changes are pos­i­tive for the university.

Each year, stu­dents who live in the res­i­dence halls are sur­veyed about their loca­tion liv­ing sat­is­fac­tion. The Office of Housing looks at the data col­lected to bet­ter sat­isfy stu­dents liv­ing in the halls.

“On the sur­veys, we have asked about room tele­phone use for the last five or six years, and what we found is that less than five per­cent [of stu­dents] use that land­line in their room. Out of that small per­cent, less than half of them were using the voice­mail. It’s just a ser­vice that we have grown beyond,” Shaffer said. “Instead of the room phones, we now have cour­tesy phones in the hall­ways. These phones are pro­vided to ensure there is always a backup plan and some way to con­tact some­one in an emergency.”

With that, a num­ber of stu­dents have noticed the absence of the phones in their rooms.

“I never really used my room phone before, so I don’t mind that they are no longer in the rooms. When every­one has a cell phone, there is really no need for them. It’s just another thing to worry about break­ing,” said Mike Ross, senior in con­struc­tion management.

Although many stu­dents may feel sat­is­fied there are no longer phones to worry about, oth­ers are find­ing it worrisome.

“If there are prob­lems with your cel­lu­lar device or need other means of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, then it is lim­ited now that the phones are not in rooms,” said Ashleigh Beemer, a crim­i­nal jus­tice sophomore.

According to Shaffer, another rea­son phones have been removed from the res­i­dence hall­rooms is because of the loca­tion change of Telecommunication Services.

The Telecommunication Services Office was pre­vi­ously located in the base­ment of Masselink Hall. However, due to the clos­ing of Masselink and Carlisle Halls, this ser­vice can now be found in the Rankin Center. It has moved into the space that was once the office of Residence Life and Judicial Services.

“When the deci­sion came to move Telecom over to the Rankin Center, it made sense just to aban­don those phone lines as opposed to mov­ing all 2500 lines over there. It’s a com­bi­na­tion of things that made this the right time to make the deci­sion [to remove room phones],” Shaffer said.

The Office of Housing and Residence Life can now be found on the first floor of Helen Ferris Hall.