The vast student emigration from the Tufts Webmail service is shocking in only one respect - the University's apparent apathy.
Students aren't stupid - when presented with such a poor service from the University, they are turning elsewhere. Hundreds of students are shunning the Tufts service and using free e-mail providers whenever possible. Leading the way is Google's Gmail, with its simple design and massive amount of space. The products offered by Gmail, and to a lesser extent its rivals, completely outperform Webmail.
Webmail only provides 20 megabytes of storage space. As both personal computers and Internet connections grow faster students - like computer users everywhere - send increasingly large documents. As computers have become more advanced, the actual size of a standard document has increased. Not only are we able to send larger attachments, we have to.
Webmail has paltry defenses against spam. Students frequently receive more than a dozen messages per day that have passed through the filter. Internet-based e-mail providers allow users to mark an item as spam, which will block further messages from the same user. Webmail does not even have a spam folder.
If students have so many superior e-mail offerings, it seems the only reason many students stick would with Webmail is convenience and status symbol. Any student initiating or maintaining contact with the community at large has an incentive to use the 'prestigious' @tufts.edu suffix.
Students, however, are required by Tufts to maintain a University account. Communication through Blackboard relies on the Webmail addresses. While it may seem relatively easy to maintain an address, one large file could push the account over the limit without the student's knowledge. Important messages could be missed.
Tufts has little incentive to change the e-mail service. It enjoys a monopoly among students, who are obliged to pay for this service through tuition. The University continues to provide a service that can actually interfere with classroom activities.
The creation of a better e-mail service is crucial. The costs of upgrading to large servers can no longer be cited as a hurdle. The University should also further investigate improved spam controls, upgrade the search function and ultimately provide a more user friendly interface.
If Tufts is unable to provide this service, other options - including outsourcing - must be discussed. Already the University subcontracts cleaning, and technology services such as printing. If we can't do it ourselves, why not let someone else do it for us?
Another solution would be to outsource select technologies from other e-mail providers. Google already has permeated our campus with its mapping technology on the University homepage. It may be time to let them take a hack at Webmail.
E-mails are the phone calls and letters of our generation. Student-faculty communication relies heavily on e-mail, and discussion has actually increased in recent years because of this tool. When student or professor e-mail is bounced back because either party is over the limit, intelligent discussion is stopped by an unintelligent wall. If students are expected to achieve academically, the University needs to first provide adequate services.
