In the mid-1990s UConn initiated a program to install numerous blue emergency telephone kiosks on our campuses, which remain today and will be recognizable to members of the campus community. The purpose of the kiosks was to allow someone to push a button that would connect them to University Safety in order to report an emergency if they were outdoors or otherwise did not have access to a landline telephone to do so.
In the approximately 30 years that have passed since that time, the nature of telecommunications, and communication generally, has changed dramatically. At the time the program was conceived of and implemented, cell phone technology was primitive by modern standards and cell phone ownership and usage was not widespread, including within the university community.
Today, three decades later, there is near universal ownership and usage of cell phones here at UConn and across the nation. When seeking help or reporting an emergency, members of the community would typically use their cell phones to dial 911 and contact University Safety.
This evolution in technology and communication has rendered the 90s-era blue phone program obsolete. Supporting the largely dormant program and the costs associated with it is no longer practical or a good use of resources. In light of this, the university will, with some exceptions, begin to gradually phase out the blue phone program on our campuses. Covers will be placed on blue phones that are inoperative and the kiosks will be removed over time. Not all blue phone kiosks will be removed, however; several will remain operational in parts of our campuses where cell phone service is weak. The university is in the process of determining these locations.
For more information, contact: University Safety at safety@uconn.edu