Caller ID made optional for students
New offer slow to pick up because of semester change, price of service

By Chrissy Braden
Staff Reporter

CAMPUSLINK is offering Caller ID to students with campus phone lines this semester for $7.95 a month and $15 for installation.

Travis Cook, director of business services, set up the system and said 66 students have ordered Caller ID for their rooms since it was first offered last Thursday.

“I was expecting at least a 50-percent penetration rate,” he said. “I guess that was a little optimistic since it is so late in the year, but I expect more students will order it in the future.”

The phone system was updated this semester to allow the use of Caller ID, Cook said.

Chrissy Braden/STAFF REPORTER Yolanda Enriquez, a freshman premajor, scans through her Caller ID on the telephone in her room. Caller ID is being offered on student phone lines this semester through CAMPUSLINK.

Cook said the monthly charge is controlled by Southwestern Bell, and the installation fee is based on the cost of the installation equipment.

Southwestern Bell offers Caller ID at the same monthly rate for off-campus housing, but the installation charge is only $5.40, said Samantha Cargle, a Southwestern Bell representative.

Cook said Southwestern Bell is able to offer a lower installation fee for off-campus phones because they install Caller ID to more people than TCU does, so their equipment cost is covered by more people.

Tracy Null, a sophomore interior design major, said she thinks Caller ID is a great idea, but $7.95 is a lot to pay each month for the service.

“I think that it should be included as a part of our phone service,” Null said.

Cook said he is trying to include Caller ID on every student’s phone line as a part of basic campus phone services for future semesters.

“Students are so used to having (Caller ID) on their cell phones and at home,” Cook said. “By offering it to them now, they don’t have to give that up when they come here.”

He said Caller ID would show other on-campus students’ numbers, but not their names. If a faculty member’s number is listed in the CAMPUSLINK system with a name, it will appear on Caller ID with both a name and the number.

“There’s an advantage (to having Caller ID) from a security standpoint,” Cook said. “If you get harassing phone calls, the chances for those go down if someone knows you can see who’s calling.”

Kelly Ham, a TCU Police detective, said 29 harassing phone calls were reported to TCU Police last semester.

According to the TCU Web site (www.tcu.edu), students receiving harassing phone calls are required to file a formal report of the calls to the TCU Police and Campus Life before a criminal investigation can begin.

Ham said harassing phone calls are traced with a computer program that was installed a year ago.

He said the system was updated in January, and since then, it has been able to trace not only present calls, but past calls as well.

“Since January and (since) using the new system, we’ve been able to trace all of the calls,” Ham said.

Cook said CAMPUSLINK provides TCU Police with the students’ names who have on-campus numbers to identify those making harassing calls from campus.

Null said she thinks Caller ID will make people think again before making harassing or late-night phone calls because they don’t want to be identified.

Chrissy Braden
l.c.braden@student.tcu.edu