Again and again during The Crimson's investigation, faculty members returned to the same two examples to highlight how out of touch they considered OIT: the pricing for the phone system and the development group.

As part of the shift to UIS, Margulies is working to eliminate them both.

One of OIT's largest responsibilities was the management of Harvard's phone system. Harvard owns its own phone switch and cables and sets the phone rates it charges faculty, students and staff.

Since Harvard installed its phone system, OIT has charged users more than it costs to operate the system, a policy known as "over-recovery," to help subsidize other activities in OIT.

"Most universities use income from established sources to fund new things," Margulies says.

She emphasizes that this policy applied only to faculty and staff phone use--not students--and that the schools were well aware of this policy. OIT officials did not set rates alone, but formed a University-wide rate-setting commission with representatives from the schools to determine phone rates.

But the faculties were angered by having to pay more for the services.

"We're paying more than if we had contracted it out," Bossert says.

UIS has lowered the phone rates it charges by ending the subsidy system.

But OIT used these cross-subsidies to build the high speed data network and to wire the University for e-mail and Internet services, a pricy installation which no school was willing to take on alone.

Charging schools directly for the cost of maintaining the network was also difficult because the schools could not agree upon a standard level of service.

"There were two points of view," says Proctor, "The network's there and we shouldn't put a lot into it. If it's down, it's down. Or that the network [is] like the telephone service and [is] needed 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

The network operated, and continues to operate, at about a $1 million deficit a year. That deficit was made up through the cross subsidies, according to Margulies.

During the last fiscal year, UIS phased out $1 million in over-recovery and will phase out another $500,000 this year, says Susan S. Walsh, director of telecommunications and technical services at UIS.

However, the schools will have to pay UIS more money for network maintenance because of the deficit, even as the phone rates drop, according to Margulies.