Obscene or Harassing Telephone Calls

 

Delta State University prohibits the placing of obscene or harassing telephone calls by staff, faculty, and students and seeks to provide information and assistance to those who might receive obscene or harassing calls. 

 

 

The terms “harassing, obscene, annoyance, nuisance” are used to define unwanted telephone calls, and are used interchangeably in this policy.

 

 

Making obscene or harassing telephone calls is a violation of MS State Statute 97-29-45 and is punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment. If such calls are received on campus:

 

The Delta State University Telecommunications and Police Departments frequently receive requests to put telephones on monitor, due to harassing, obscene, annoyance, nuisance, etc. type phone calls. Prior to Telecommunications placing any University telephone on monitor, an official complaint must be filed with the Campus Police Department.

 

Monitoring of telephones at Delta State is accomplished by programming the University Telephone System to generate a record of all calls made to the number to be monitored. In some situations, the Telecommunications Department contacts the BellSouth Annoyance Call Center for assistance in identifying callers. The monitoring process does not involve any type of listening or recording of conversations.