Incoming students may have thought they were getting a good deal if they signed up for a cell phone to use when calling their parents from the residence halls. However, many of these students were dismayed to discover they would be forced to leave the confines of their cozy rooms in order to use their phones. Sprint PCS, in particular, doesn’t have adequate cell phone coverage to service the customers on the east side of campus.
Obviously, the problem of getting more cell phone reception would be solved by building more cell phone towers. But the answer is not that simple. There is invariably controversy over the placement of cell phone towers, and residents located near 15th Avenue and Villard Street are loudly protesting a new tower slated to be built in their backyards.
The tower is expected to be 150 feet tall and located only a few yards away from the new graduate student housing facility. The tower could also devalue property in the neighborhood, and some people fear it could cause cancer.
Speculation that cell towers cause cancer has not been proved. Although this is a serious concern, many of the products we use every day were once the subject of the same suspicions. More research needs to be done before we can make conclusions about health risks posed by cell phone towers.
The siting dilemma stems from trying to balance the concerns of understandably angry residents with the real need for the tower. Since this particular tower would be utilized mainly by University students, it should be put on campus. There is no need to inconvenience or possibly endanger those who happen to live near the University just so students can have better cell phone service. And the campus has many areas where the tower would not be as obtrusive. The University is planning within the next six months to create guidelines on cell phone tower placement. Sprint should withhold their application to the city until the University finds a suitable on-campus site for the tower.
A cell tower on campus is essential and a matter of common sense. Cell phones have nearly become a necessity for many college students, especially since the Sept. 11 attacks. But to avoid aggravating a potentially volatile situation, Sprint should wait patiently.
Sprint should wait patiently for the University to solve this potentially volatile situation.