Some University departments are pulling the plug on dozens of telephone lines in an effort to cut back on spending.

Academic departments across campus are feeling the squeeze of a tighter budget. The Board of Regents, which implemented a 6 percent reduction – $30 million – in the University’s budget acknowledged this figure could expand by another $20 million.

Several departments said they are doing everything they can to cut costs and soften the blow of a smaller University operating budget. The physics and psychology departments decided to get rid of dozens of telephone lines.

“No one had been through the building in a long time to see which lines were inactive,” said Mica Turner, business manager in the department of physics. “We got rid of 40-something lines that were no longer in use, and we’ll be saving some money.”

Pat Gunderman, business manager in the department of psychology, said eliminating phone lines was “one of the first things we thought of.”

Many psychology professors “just use e-mail” and about 20 volunteered to give up their office lines, Gunderman said.

The mathematics department is seriously weighing the option, said Joseph Fu, the department head.

“We’ve had serious cuts, and it’s an emergency reaction on our part,” he said. “We’re trying to make ends meet.”

Fu estimated the math department’s total monthly telephone bill to be between $1,500 and $2,000.

The implications of a University budget reduction of this magnitude are numerous. University employee health benefits have been reduced, and a moratorium has been placed on faculty travel.

The Miller Learning Center has cut back its hours of operations because of the high energy costs incurred to keep it open 24 hours.

The library plans to cut the GIL Express service in January and continues to seek input from faculty on which journal subscriptions to cut in the next year.

And there have been discussions of raising student tuition and fees to avoid layoffs.

Though the departments that disconnected dozens of phone lines did so independently – under no administrative pressures or orders – questions linger.

Mark Farmer, head of the cellular biology department, said the monthly cost per phone line in his building is $18.65.

And several said they wonder whether even disconnecting all phone lines in every department would make a difference at all.