Anybody who picks up the handset of a red or tan wall phone left on campus won’t hear a dial tone, any instructions or even an old message telling the caller to try their call again. Instead, they will be met with silence — and an occasional electronic buzzing sound.
Service to emergency phones on campus has been discontinued as of Jan. 2026, according to Tim Wilson, associate vice president of IT. The phones were once used to directly call Point Park Police, maintenance or any working phone number extension on campus.
Few phones remain on campus in complete condition. Most of those left do not have a handset for someone to hold. The ones that do make no noise. One exception is the emergency phone in Tower B of the Boulevard Apartments on the fourth floor, which makes sounds if one presses the numbers on it.
Beyond situations where a student may be locked out of their dorm without their phone on them, the emergency phones saw little use. Despite this, Wilson said there is still outside interest in the phone system the university uses, so IT is in the process of finding a third-party reseller to sell the equipment to.
Much of this equipment in Point Park’s soon-to-be antiquated phone system is part of what is known as a private business exchange (PBX), which is common at large businesses or universities. Instead of an old home phone system where each phone has a separate line, each phone has an extension routed into one phone line, according to Nadeem Unuth, who writes for various tech outlets and has experience with phone systems.
Because of this, each emergency phone on campus doesn’t have a phone number written on it beyond the last four digits. If someone were to try to call any of these phones, it would not work or make the phone ring. Instead, they will just hear a message saying the phone does not have a voicemail box.
Chris Hill, vice president of operations at Physical Plant, said the phones are all going to be removed in anticipation for a new system. The new system he referred to is the Fanvil emergency call boxes placed across campus, which were first installed in December 2023. Sergeant Matthew Mays at the time said there were plans to install more in the future.
Currently, 88 emergency call boxes are available and working on campus, which immediately call directly to Point Park Police, activate a video camera on the device and cause nearby security cameras to point in the direction of an activated call box. The newer call boxes work via an internet phone system, almost like a modern intercom.
As of writing, at least 30 emergency phones are left on campus, though none work. Seven still appear complete with its handset still attached to the phone, while 23 do not and cannot function at all. Despite their appearance, the emergency phones with handsets are also non-functional.
Hill said the old emergency phones will be disposed of properly once each phone is removed, as they are no longer needed.
Only one red phone remains in service — one at the far back of Academic Hall’s security desk. A desk attendant present said they had no idea the phone was even there. Unlike the emergency phones, this one can make and take calls.
At one point, the university had phones in every dorm for students to use, where they could call extensions to reach certain rooms. Additionally, Lawrence Hall used to have 17 payphones, with most being on dorm floors. These have all been discontinued and removed.
Point Park is following the trend of other smaller universities in the region, as Chatham University also recently had most non-digital phones on campus removed.
