CLEMSON — Effective Jan. 1, Clemson University will cease to pay for employees’ cell phones. Instead the university will offer faculty and staff stipends, ranging from $13 to $62 per month to cover business-related calls.

Clemson Procurement Director Mike Nebesky expects the measure to cut Clemson’s cell phone expenditures by 10 to 15 percent. Nebesky did not have an estimate on total Clemson cell bills because they are administered departmentally, but the school currently provides more than 700 employees with electronic wireless devices, including cell phones, Blackberries and pagers.

Clemson athletic department cell phones and facilities department “push-to-talk” devices are exempt from the policy. The athletics department is exempt based on their sponsorship arrangements, while facilities are exempt based on a “unique bundling agreement,” according to policy verbiage.

The new policy was devised before current U.S. economic woes, which are expected to hamper every Clemson funding stream, from endowments to state appropriations. Clemson Chief Human Resources Officer Lawrence Nichols said he began working with Nebesky on the measure in late-2007.

“We decided on our own something needed to be done probably a year ago,” Nichols said. “We’re always looking at ways to be more economical.”

According to Nichols, the new policy is compliant with federal guidelines regarding business cell phone billing. It also eliminates Clemson paying for unused minutes on high-minute plans, in addition to simplifying administration and management of cell phone bills.

“Like a lot of employers, Clemson was not in compliance with laws that required us to monitor telephones for which calls are personal and which are business,” Nichols said “The reality is with rates today, most of the time it doesn’t matter — you pay a flat rate. There was a time where if you had a cell phone you were a rich person, but over time the price of cell phones reached a more reasonable level. But the laws have not caught up with the technology.”

The appropriate Clemson dean, director or vice president may authorize a cell phone stipend. Simple convenience is not an ample criterion.

Nichols said Clemson in the past had provided cell phones to employees whose job required them to be reachable during non-business hours. Examples include members of Clemson News Services and Nichols himself, who is on the university’s crisis management team.

Eventually, Clemson administrators realized some employees only needed phones for a week or so out of the year. For example, residential housing personnel would need phones the week students move in, but not otherwise, Nichols said.

Clemson employees may continue to use issued devices until the items become outdated, at which time they must turn in the gear.

In addition to cell phones, the new policy mandates tiers for home Internet use or Blackberries for on-the-go e-mail accessibility, for Clemson employees whose job warrants the allowances. These include $32 per month for Internet to $58 per month for a Blackberry. Employees will now be responsible for the purchase of the cell phone or Internet equipment. Employees may be approved for multiple tiers if they require a combination of voice, data, and Internet.

Clemson’s IT and procurement department will review allowance tiers each year. Supervisors are responsible for an annual review of their employees’ business need for a communication stipend.