The newest print version of the Telecommunications directory contains personal contact information ‘ including campus room numbers, home addresses and, in some cases, even cell numbers ‘ despite a decision made last year to excise the data after several female students received abusive phone calls.

Overseeing this decision was the Enterprise Data Committee ‘ a group composed of 10 members, including the Binghamton University registrar, the director of communication and marketing, the dean of students and the director of human resources.

The committee is responsible for the security of the personal information of BU students, faculty, staff and alumni, according to University spokeswoman Gail Glover.

The decision to leave the information in was based on the fact that the directory ‘provides important contact information for those with legitimate needs,’ Glover said.

Last fall, a series of harassing and often sexually explicit phone calls made to female students raised questions about the directory’s accessibility. The University decided to remove the phone numbers from the online directory when the calls persisted and it was suspected that the perpetrator was using the listings as a resource to find victims.

When the calls continued into the spring semester, the University considered removing the numbers from the print directory, which was to be printed in the fall.

Although ultimately the decision was made to include personal contact information, this year’s listings will have restrictions on distribution.

‘In the past a lot of the extra books (about 1,000) were stacked in the bookstore and people could just take them,’ Glover said. ‘Our counts are a lot more accurate now, so we don’t have that many left over to recycle.’

This year, directories are only being delivered to residence halls, the Information Technologies Complex and the University Downtown Center. Departments on campus wishing to obtain a copy must go to the Telecommunications office to pick theirs up.

A Student Assembly resolution sponsored by Alexandra Economou advocated for removing the student phone numbers from the University Web site last year.

Economou, then an off-campus representative, said she believes students should have more choice in who is allowed to access their personal information.

‘I didn’t like the idea that anyone could find my phone number on the campus Web site,’ she said. ‘As a girl, I wasn’t comfortable with that.’

Economou also said that she did not agree with the University’s decision to automatically include student phone numbers in the directories.

‘I think it’s ridiculous,’ she said. ‘I think it should be optional. If you don’t want to have your phone number in the directory, it shouldn’t go in there.’

SA Academic Vice President Matt Landau, however, said he was opposed to the resolution when it was presented last year and agrees with the University’s inclusion of the information.

Landau argues that for group assignments, the directory can be a valuable tool to communicate.

Glover, however, emphasized that the decision was not final regarding the inclusion of student information in future editions of the directory.

‘It is my understanding that the matter could possibly be reviewed again this fall for next year,’ Glover said.