Students living in Goodricke College have been hit by a decision to remove all internal phones in student rooms.
The phones provide a vital link to welfare services, including a free-phone service to Nightline and the emergency services. They also allow international students to use purchased phonecards, which offer significant price reductions on the cost of calling worldwide from a mobile.
They will now only be provided in rooms for those who register themselves as having physical disabilities and it has been suggested that other students may only be able to hire out a phone at their own expense.
The Goodricke management team were unavailable for comment as to why the decision was made, but Goodricke Chair Emily Miller revealed to Vision that no prior consultation with “any member of the college” had been undertaken.
Miller explained, “This decision concerns me greatly. The issues around internal phones should not be a case where consideration for the needs of the majority should outweigh those of the students that really stand to benefit.”
The college management cited “under-usage” to the JCRC as the reason for the removal of the phones. The decision has also been criticised for ignoring the possibility of it further socially excluding international students or those who have, or develop, disabilities whilst at university. For many disabled or foreign students the internal phone is a lifeline.
Often, Miller argues, it is these students who are most vulnerable to the financial implications of using a mobile, due to their dependency on making expensive calls to relatives abroad or need for regular contact with family and support groups at home – which can see costs spiral out of control.
Miller hopes the decision will be reversed by the college, saying that “claims of under use don’t allow for the fact that if just one life is saved as a result, the entire provision has been justified.”
As of yet, no time frame has been set for the removal of the phones.