Ranging from notices that the heat will be shut off to messages about recruitment opportunities, official mass e-mails are a valuable communications tool, according to University officials. But they say it must be used carefully, because students are overwhelmed by junk e-mail.
"The whole purpose is to get information to the campus that they legitimately need, and to do it in a timely way," said Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service. "It's information that's offered with an open hand," he said, and "it seems to work."
There are two types of University-approved mass e-mail. Morning Mail consolidates reminders and announcements about campus events into one daily e-mail. Faculty and staff members can submit announcements for publication in Morning Mail; the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations decides which events go into Morning Mail and which should be placed on the online calendar instead.
Official bulk e-mails can also be sent out to a variety of mailing lists by authorized departments. For example, the Dean of the Faculty's office can send e-mails to faculty members, the Undergraduate Council of Students can message individual classes or all undergraduates, and the Office of the President can e-mail everyone on campus. These departments do not need to secure approval before sending a mass e-mail.
Patricia Falcon, coordinator of communications and documentation at Computing and Information Services, said there are "about a dozen" offices with authorization to send mass e-mails to their relevant mailing lists. She pointed to the introduction of Morning Mail in February 2004 as the reason that the "use of bulk e-mail has dropped off in the last year," as announcements formerly made through several individual e-mails are now consolidated into one.
Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president, said there are "definite instances when it makes sense to send" a mass e-mail from the Office of the President, such as the announcement of Sidney Frank's recent gift or when the president wishes to make a statement on a "campus climate issue."
But Quinn emphasized that "we try to use bulk e-mail in a limited way, understanding that people get a lot of e-mail."
Overuse of mass e-mail represents a serious danger, said John Mozena, the vice president and co-founder of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail, a national anti-spam organization. Though "it's not spam" when the University sends out mass e-mails, they will become ineffective if students feel "so carpet-bombed" by them that they become desensitized and stop reading them, Mozena said.
"That's the danger, but I don't think the University is coming close to that threshold," said Tracie Sweeney, senior associate director of the Brown News Service. She cited Morning Mail and the targeted nature of the mailing lists as effective in helping to control the volume of official e-mails to the campus. Nickel said that though there is a risk that students will become desensitized by spam more generally, it "does not arise from the University's use of bulk e-mail."
Ethan Wingfield '07, communications coordinator for UCS, agreed that mass e-mail needs to be used "very carefully and wisely" as to not "cheapen its value." Last year there was a dispute over UCS's use of mass e-mail after it sent out several campus-wide e-mails on behalf of student groups.
But Wingfield said UCS's communications committee is currently drafting a "comprehensive policy" on UCS's use of mass e-mail, which will probably be ready in Spring 2005.
The University's efforts to contain the volume of official e-mails has had mixed reviews. Leni Kwait '06 said the volume of e-mails from the University "doesn't really bother me."
But Jeremy Choy '08 had a simple solution for what he regards as too many e-mails: "two words: trash can."
Choy said he likes Morning Mail and that he reads official messages such as the campus crime alerts and messages from the president, because "it comes when it's necessary so you know it's necessary." But he specifically cited e-mails from the Career Development Center as being overwhelming and unhelpful. "I think they've definitely crossed the line," he said.
Kimberly DelGizzo, director of the CDC, said the CDC sends weekly e-mails to each class as well as additional e-mails to the entire student body to announce career-related events or opportunities. The CDC has authorization from the Office of the Dean of the College to use those mailing lists for its e-mails.
"We are always challenged by not wanting to send out too many e-mails," DelGizzo said. But she said informal conversations with students at Career Services events have led her to believe that many do not read Morning Mail and that individual e-mails are the best way for the CDC to communicate with students.
Though DelGizzo said she was wary of overwhelming students, she said, "I also know that we have important information to get out to students, and students tell us this is the best way to do that."
The "intelligent use of e-mails as a critical communications tool" can be overwhelmed by too many messages, Mozena said.
But Nickel said the "University does need to have a certain baseline capacity of getting information to everybody," and that as long as it is not used as a "blunt club," it will continue to be effective.
