Ignoring calls of students
Campus Times
February 14, 1997
Somebody has some explaining to do. Who? I wish I knew. I'm sure many
on-campus students fighting with CampusLink would also like to know who
is responsible for a phone company that has been plagued with problems.
As if we have ever had good luck with a phone service company here at
the University of La Verne, CampusLink has followed the trend of giving
on-campus students nothing but confusion, frustration and a great big hole
in their pocketbooks.
Confusing bills, mismatched phone records and mistaken late fees have
been the unexplained phenomenon all school year, but even worse, the University
that contracted the system has done little to inform the students of what
is being done to repair the problem or that there is even a problem at all.
So covering up the boo boo will make it all go away?
Face it folks, CampusLink cannot be swept under the rug, and here is
why: Every month, students get bills that amount to absolute nonsense. It
is at that point that a bogus bill hits students where it hurts most-the
checking account-and it hurts bad.
Granted, students do not have to sign up with CampusLink, the fact of
the matter is that they just can't sign up with anyone else. Therefore,
it is CampusLink or nothing at all, and students have no other choice if
they want phone service.
Perhaps students would not be as critical of a phone system that they
chose themselves. Perhaps phone companies would be more efficient if they
knew their customers could cancel their service and sign on with their competition.
It is this monopoly that CampusLink has with University of La Verne
students that has made it so simple for problem after problem to go unsolved.
If we have no other choice, why should they get any better?
According to Derek Vergara, director of housing and residential life,
ULV inherited CampusLink when past company Fujitsu was bought out. Vergara
says this transition occurred three weeks before the school year started,
leaving insufficient time for the housing department to research the new
company.
So because the Office of Housing and Residential Life could not take
the extra time and energy to research the phone company that they knew residents
would be stuck with, on campus students are paying their hard earned money
for inefficient service.
Even if there was not a formal contract with CampusLink when the Fujitsu
buy- out took place, there must be some kind of agreement that promises
decent service. Is there nothing in writing that holds CampusLink accountable
to being organized, efficient and fair?
As of now, it seems that the only ones fighting for justice with CampusLink
are the students that individually call their representatives and fight
for what is fair. Sadly, this method is not working because problems still
exist and students are not being heard over the phone.
So, who has the power to grab the ear of CampusLink?
Student advocacy groups, University administration and the housing department
that wouldn't take the time to research CampusLink is a start. Strength
in numbers or strength in leadership may be what students need in representing
their needs. Giving students the choice to pick their own phone company
would also get the monopolizing company out of the University.
For the second semester of the school year, students have had to carry
the burden of a company that is a joke, a bad joke. It is the on-campus
students that hear this joke every month and speaking as one of the many,
I can attest, it's getting very old.
Andrea Gardner, a junior broadcast journalism major, is managing
editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at gardnera@ulvacs.ulaverne.edu.