Newspapers / St. Andrews University Student … / March 1, 1992, edition 1 / Page 10
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The Lance • St. Andrews Presbyterian College Opinion Letter to the Editors: Recently, the resi dents of Wilmington Hall were given a great shock. Wilmington will b eco- ed when we return next fall. At first, I was com pletely outraged, and al though I am still some what angry ^ do see the economical reasoning behind the decision. However, the factor that destresses me the most is that the residents of Wilmington were not even consulted or in formed of the proposal until it was virtually a "done deal." When I was considering coming to St. Andrews everything I read and every person I spoke with stressed the importance and the prominance of student involvement. I feel that my rights as a student have been somewhat vio lated. This involvement that is supposed to be so important was over looked or completely ig nored. Gow, as a student on such a small campus, is that supposed to make me feel? Until this inci dent I had been content with my life at St. An drews. Sure, I have prob lems with SAGA and other trivial things, but I have never seriously con sidered leaving-until now. As I said before, I do see the economical rea soning begind the deci sion to make Wilming ton Hall co-ed. But as a member of the St. An drews community I feel that the decision to leave the residents ofj Wilm ington uninformed until it was all but too late was a bad one on the part of, Admiistration. I think if student in- ; volvement is going to be stressed to prospective students. Administration should strive to make it an intricil part of the St. Andrews community. -Lauren J. McDevitt Letter to the Editor: There are currently three major long dis tance phone companies in the United States. AT&T, MCI, and Sprint AT&T is the largest car rier, serving over 70% of the long distance mar ket. Each of these phone companies offers call ing card service, with ways of accessing that phone company's net work. MCI and Sprint use a 1-800 number that can be dialed from any phone, and from there, you may place your call, normally with operator assistance, and operator fees. AT&T uses a pre fix system, rather than the 800 system, that is supposed to transfer you to the AT&T network, without the operator as sistance, unless you are placing a collect call. The St. Andrews sy stemservicedby Telecomm and MCI, has created a virtual mo nopoly over students, by locking out and pro hibiting certain calls. My parents live over seas on a U.S. mihtary base, and since AT&T is the leader in clarity and cost for intemational calls, I would like to be able to use my AT&T calling card to call my parents. St. Andrews has locked out the 102880 prefix for AT&T, claim ing that students were charging phone calls back to the school, and it took too much time to charge the rooms for the phone calls. Th6 college also removM the 0 for operator so that students ^ could not get a South- ^ Bell operator, for the same feasori. The col lege claims that it has met the requirements for a phone service by pto- vjding a mean’s for ev eryone who wishes to use a long distance car rier other than MCI or Tel! Sprint users may call an 800 number, and may place their call that way. However, Sprint users are finding that Telecomm is charging Sprint anywhere from $.15 to $4.00 in "switch ing fees" for use of the Telecomm line. But, Sprint is already paying Telecomm for the 800 number. On the other hand, AT&T decided to use a prefix, so that custom ers could dial direct, rather than going through an operator, which increased the speed of the dial and eliminated the "switch ing costs." The college claims that AT&T not having an 800 number is students' and AT&Ts problem, not the college's. The college has received an 800 number from AT&T for students to use, when di aling inside the U.S. The number goes through several operators, but you can place AT&T calls. However, from this number, you cannot place intemational calls. The college is not giv ing the number out, be cause it feels that is AT&T's responsibility, as Sprint and MCI put their 800 number on the back of their cards. AT&T prints their pre fix number, which is supposed to be reach able from any public phone. j So, the college is pro viding for long distance telephone c^ls, as long ,as one uses MCI oj _ Telecomm, ypH can call, easily and without,, hassle. If you u$^ Sprint, , you pla.y a game,of chance, gyessing^ how much Telecomm is go ing to charge yoji fqr using their lines^ The.. charge can be worth up to 45 minutes of phone time!! If you have an AT&T calling card, like 75% ofthe calling cards in the U.S., you have one choice; Complain until the college gives you the national 800 number: 800-661-0661, or you may use the pay phone in the hallway. I can under stand the college's posi tion in trying to keep from having students charge phone bills and not pay them, but if it's going to be this much of a hassle, why didn't they let us keep our Southern Bell service, which pro vided hassle-free com munications? If the col lege really wants to solve the problem, they might do what most large schools do. Every school in the Florida university system provides local phone service only. If a student wants to make long dis-tance calls, then the student must either sign up with a long dis tance carrier, or use a credit card. The phone number is attached to the room, and since the school does not provide any type of long distance service, the choice of carriers is left up to the student and the room mate. This would be an ideal situation for St. Andrews because even from phones that are not connected to a long distance carrier, a credit «, card can be used, via the 800 number system or the AT&T prefix. I do not believe that; in order to call my par- . ;ents in Japan using . AT&T, the largest car rier in the U.S., I should be forced to call from a pay phone on the sec- pnd floor of Meek .at 8PM Saturday night. In- te^ational phone calls are noisy in the best of ^ circumstances., Try do ing it in the middle of a party! We, the undersigned, demand a fair and equi table way for Sprint and AT&T credit card own ers to place long distance calls, without undue hassle or extra charge. Whether the solution comes from the phone companies or the col lege, we do not care, just that the virtual mo nopoly the college has extended to MCI and Telecomm is removed. Matt Clark [Editor's note: This letter arrived with a list of persons who are dis satisfied with the phone service. Names are available upon request.} Letter To the Editors: Printings of "Comings & Goings," monthly calendars, memos, and other items is done in excess here at St. Andrews. Most of the time there are extras. Students andfaculty usu ally discard printings af ter skimming them. Upcoming events are usually advertised through posters, sales of tickets, and word of mouth, so the printings are unwanted. A limited number of printings should be made and posted for students and faculty to view. The over use of paper is a helping factor in the wasting away of trees and for ests. Recycling of paper has been started at the student mailboxes so unwanted papers can be recycled instead of put ting them in the trash. Recycling needs to be initiated across the en tire campus to make a difference in, helping to improve the environ ment. -rChristina L. Hayraes Box514J "Women were God's second mistake." -Oscar Wilde
St. Andrews University Student Newspaper
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March 1, 1992, edition 1
10
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