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Since June 8 of this year, five student representatives and 15 professional employees under the multi-million dollar Associated Students, Inc. organization have been included in a new BlackBerry program.
The program - which is funded using portions of ASI fees taken from students each semester - provides a personal BlackBerry with service for each recipient. The program has spent approximately $9,500 from June 8 to Oct. 25, according to phone bills provided by ASI to the Daily Forty-Niner in compliance with a California Public Records Act request.
Cal State Long Beach is unique in its spending of student fees toward the BlackBerry distribution. Five other Southern California public universities - including UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge - do not institute such a program.
According to ASI Executive Director Richard Haller, the BlackBerry phone's use is primarily for business, but "the phones may be used for personal use provided such use does not result in that person exceeding their 400 minute monthly allowance."
When asked why recipients needed the electronic devices in the summer, Haller wrote via e-mail that both student and professional ASI employees who work during the summer "undergo orientation and training and engaging in planning for the upcoming fall and spring semesters. ... The senate and the board of control meet over the summer as well, although not as often as during the fall and spring semester."
Recipients, long-distance calls
The five student representatives who have received the student-funded BlackBerries and service are ASI President Mark Andrews, ASI Administrator Brandy Bandaruk, ASI Vice President Lucy Montano, ASI Treasurer Shelena McClinton and ASI Chief of Staff James B. Davis.
In addition, 15 professional staffers of ASI and the University Student Union, which falls under ASI, have received the devices and service. Five others, including a lead custodian and the recycling coordinator, have been given cell phones provided by ASI funds.
According to the phone records, 225 of the phone calls were out-of-state calls during the collective period of June 8 until Oct. 25, including calls to such places as Atlanta; Chicago; suburbs of Washington, D.C.; Tucson, Ariz.; Silver Spring, Md.; Rushville, Ind.; Evansville, Ind.; Portsmouth, Ohio; Arlington, Ind.; Monroe, Ga.; Alexandria, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Duncanville, Texas; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; and York, Pa.
Among the professional adults employed by ASI who have made out-of-state phone calls is Dave Edwards, director of the USU, who during the period made 92 out-of-state phone calls.
Associate Director of Student Involvement and Leadership Kim Hinckson also made 28 out-of-state phone calls.
According to an e-mail from Hinckson, "Many of the out of state calls were made to other universities or during the weekend when it is free to use the phone. I also use my work cell phone to take and return phone calls from colleagues from universities around the country."
John Trapper, the student media adviser, called East Coast states 15 times between Aug. 26 to Oct. 25, to such places as Chelsea, Md.; Alexandria, Va.; Lockport, N.Y.; and Buffalo, N.Y.
"As the media adviser, I do a lot of purchasing from out of town companies from electronic companies and various other suppliers," Trapper wrote in an e-mail. He also wrote that "it should also be noted that long-distance calls are included in our plan, so it's advantageous for us to use the BlackBerry over our desk phone."
USU Building Supervisor Joseph Smith, however, exceeded the average phone bill by $200 in the June 26 through July 25 period, and made 46 out-of-state phone calls.
According to Melissa Duque, an ASI spokeswoman, Smith reimbursed the student organization.
The only student representative to make out-of-state phone calls was McClinton, who made 23 phone calls to Tucson, Ariz., in the five-month period.
"The out-of-state calls was to a family member in the Air Force, who was deploying to Iraq, whom I was helping settle his personal affairs," McClinton said in an e-mail. McClinton continued by saying, "I had asked if it would be OK to use this number. It was acceptable if I stayed within the allotted minutes."
Unlike other schools
ASI is unique in its BlackBerry distribution using funds taken from students. Similarly sized nearby California State Universities and sports rival UC Irvine showed that the ASI's program is unusual in the area.
General manager of Cal State Northridge's Associated Students David Crandall said that no student representatives and only two professional employees at CSUN - the director of Recreational Sports and the assistant director of Recreational Sports - receive cell phones paid for by the student government. Of the two individuals, Crandall said "they're on-call 24/7" and are rarely near a landline during the day.
At CSUN, "[Cell phone use] has not been necessary [for student representatives] to be successful," Crandall said.
San Diego State University provides cell phones to five of its student representatives, as well as phone allowances and phones to other professional employees who are required to use the phones for Associated Students business. However, the student government does not provide students or professional employees with BlackBerries, according to Susan Heiser, the associate director for Associated Students at SDSU.
Heiser added that "all individuals who do not use their phone exclusively for AS business are taxed on the phone payment."
Neighboring sports rival UCI also does not provide either its staff or its student representatives with the personal digital assistant devices.
According to Programs Coordinator Alex Kushner, there is no cell phone service provided to any student representative, and only two Associated Students staffers receive cell phones: the people who direct the shuttle program.
