"Students at Florida State University will no longer be able to reach some professors on their office phones. The FSU College of Business and the Department of English are cutting landlines to save money. As Whitney Ray tells us, if the plan takes off, other colleges could begin nixing their landline service."

Source: flanews.com

Cutting the Phone Line

I'd like to support this move because I think it has a lot of potential. However, I don't know how realistic it is. I don't get reception in some of the buildings on campus, for instance, and I know I'm not the only one.

Not to mention that some professors are undoubtedly still on a "pay for minutes" plan and you're asking them to give up some of that personal investment for business matters – not just students but other offices on campus, research partners, vendors, etc.

Bottom line: interesting idea but might be a hard sell.

As a side note, I wanted to recommend that all current students on here visit their professors on office hours. I got to know a number of professors over the years, never had a bad experience, and sometimes it worked out in surprising ways. For instance, I got a letter of rec from a professor even though I got a B- in his class. I know of people who've gotten extra points, extensions on papers and even whole letter grades higher because they went into the office and demonstrated that they cared about their grade. Think about it.

owlcountry said

As a side note, I wanted to recommend that all current students on here visit their professors on office hours. I got to know a number of professors over the years, never had a bad experience, and sometimes it worked out in surprising ways. For instance, I got a letter of rec from a professor even though I got a B- in his class. I know of people who've gotten extra points, extensions on papers and even whole letter grades higher because they went into the office and demonstrated that they cared about their grade. Think about it.

Good point…almost like real estate?  Location, location, location…….

E-mail is the best, and in my opinion, should be the only way to contact professors. PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING, and e-mail does that. Plus, it's free.

Getting rid of landlines is a fantastic idea.

I don't think its THAT great of an idea. I say make it optional, to those teachers that check their e-mail every 5 minutes, ya, take theirs away. But some teachers don't check their email that often, or even at all for that matter. There is a teacher in the History dept. that can barely use a cell phone and doesn't check his email that often, (plus the lower part of the AL building barely has any reception) so I don't think it would be a good idea to take away his office phone. Also, what if the student needs to get in contact with the professor immediatly, the office phone might be the only chance. But I do think it could work, just not for all teachers. Plus, I think its always a good idea to have phones that aren't tied to electricity or reception in case of an emergency. Thats also why RAs in the dorms HAVE to have a phone that connect directly to the phone jack in case power goes out or something, they can still use the phone. Also, there used to be phone jacks in every room in the dorms and apartments, but they took them all out since everyone pretty much just uses cell phones now, except for those in RA rooms.