News

Harvard Medical School Cancels Student Groups’ Pro-Palestine Vigil

News

Former FTC Chair Lina Khan Urges Democrats to Rethink Federal Agency Function at IOP Forum

News

Cyanobacteria Advisory Expected To Lift Before Head of the Charles Regatta

News

After QuOffice’s Closure, Its Staff Are No Longer Confidential Resources for Students Reporting Sexual Misconduct

News

Harvard Still On Track To Reach Fossil Fuel-Neutral Status by 2026, Sustainability Report Finds

Off the Hook

Ma Bell Cuts Cords; Students Dismayed

By Jeffrey L. Saver and Michael E. Silver

In addition to cold weather, term papers and upcoming exams, dead telephones greeted many Harvard students upon their return to Cambridge.

New England Telephone disconnected 110 Harvard Centrex numbers because the customers failed to make their payments on time, a supervisor at the company's Cambridge business office who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday.

Students whose phones were disconnected will have to pay $15.00 to have service resumed.

Several of the students said that the warning notifications that the company sent out December 16 arrived after they had left for vacation.

Richard F. Rowley '78 said. "It's really a sham to say that those notifications were adequate warnings that service would be discontinued." After lodging several complaints with the phone company, Rowley was told he would not have to pay for resumption of service.

The anonymous supervisor said the notification schedule was determined by computer and made no provisions for vacationing students.

The supervisor added, however, that New England Telephone had postponed interrupting service from December 23 to January 2 to allow students extra time to pay their bills.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags