Attachment to UCT Agenda of April 23, 1999


Dear Prof. Farrell:

I am writing to you in your capacity as Chair of the University Council on
Technology.  You may or may not already know that in the English department,
Faculty do not have private phones.  We must use the phones in the foyers
of our office blocks, and often four or five Faculty must share these phones
with several graduate students and non-tenure track faculty.  Apart from the
sheer inconvenience of it all, it turns every telephone conversation into a
public discussion, and this can cause serious problems and could have some
serious consequences, as well, when Faculty are discussing severely private
matters on public telephones.

What prompts me to email you is that I have an undergraduate student who is
registered with Student Disability Services.  She's recently had a death
in the family.  She no longer attends class regularly, and last week, she left
my office in tears, finding that she could not even articulate
the suffering she's going through now.  I have been worried about her; I
have every reason to fear that she may crack from the pressure she's under.
I have asked SDS to take special care in counseling her and have tried to
help her through this as best I can but she has taken a turn for the worst.

On the day of my midterm last Thursday, I had a telephone message left in my
mailbox from someone at Student Disability Services saying that this student
would not be present for the exam and that I should call so and so at the SDS.
I went up to my office, got out my grade book and attendance record, and stood
at the public telephone to discuss these private matters in plain view of
an undergraduate waiting for a conference with a faculty member in my office
block.  I had to ask her to leave because the matter was so private.  One of
the Faculty members in my block had his door ajar.  Even this made me uncomfort
able, so I asked him if I might shut it for a few minutes.  These were the
shenanigans I had to go through before I could even begin dialing.  Even then,
I had no way of knowing who else might be able to hear my discussion.

Like other Faculty, non-tenure track faculty and grad. assistants in English,
I have worked without a private line in my SFH office for some ten years
now. Whenever I've had to make a private call I either use the phone in the
back of the English Department Offices (this is not a private phone but it is
less public than the others), or I ask one of the secretaries if I can use her
office for two seconds (and she has to leave), or I wait until I get home
to make the phone call.  I am sure you would agree that these three options are
frankly preposterous.

As your committee reviews the technology available to and imaginable for
your colleagues at Kent State University in the future, please be
aware that some of us don't even have bare necessities like office phones.
I have managed to make do without an office phone for ten years but this
latest experience has pointed out the serious consequences: having to discuss
private matters--like a student's mental health--in public spaces.  I trust
that you will share my concerns with your committee and I thank you in
advance for your attention.

Sincerely,

Claire A. Culleton
Associate Professor of English