An increasing number of Tufts students are transferring - but not to a different university.
This ever-growing list of students are renouncing their Tufts Webmail account and switching to alternate e-mail services.
The most popular alternative provider has been Google's Gmail. Students cite Gmail's high storage capacity and simple presentation - something they find lacking in Webmail - as reasons for the switch.
The greatest problem with Tufts Webmail was storage space, students and professors said. When a user's mailbox exceeds maximum capacity - 20 megabytes for undergraduate students - e-mails sent to the account are bounce back to the sender as undeliverable.
"Students' mailboxes are so often over-quota that I can't send them even a short 5-page article in PDF form," she said.
When a mailbox is full, it's a lose-lose situation for students and professors. "It's frustrating for everyone," Spielberg said. "Students don't know when their boxes are over-quota and then can't receive messages until they've discarded old e-mails, which may be many days after the message was sent."
"There have even been instances when students have contacted me to ask a question and I respond, only to find later that the student has never received the message," Spielberg said.
E-mail is now a vital part of communication between students and professors. A study by University of Illnois at Chicago professor Steve Jones found 98 percent of professors used e-mail to communicate with students. Seventy-three percent of professors said their communication with students has increased since they started using e-mail.
Tufts Information Technology Services representatives Vincent Yu agreed that limited space was an issue for students. "Storage space wise, Webmail only allows for 20 megabytes - that is the limit for Tufts users," Yu said. "But that's because of the server capacity - there are not that many people who use Tufts' service. For Gmail, since there are so many users, the server capacity is huge."
University students and professors frustrated with the Tufts service have been turning elsewhere. Gmail offers more than 2.5 gigabytes of free storage - more than 125 times the amount offered by Webmail.
Senior Jean Whitehead switched to Gmail "because of the huge storage capacity that just keeps growing every day." A counter on the Gmail Web site keeps track by the second of the ever-growing amount of available server space.
Yu said the reason for the difference in server space between the two services was the server's different purposes. "Webmail [has] firewall protection and serves as a router for Blackboard. There are just different uses for a server in a college environment - it's for servicing students," he said.
Storage capacity is not the only reason that students have switched to Gmail. Several students interviewed cited a "pretty interface," "good organizational
capacities," and the ability to search e-mails as reasons they chose Gmail.
Gmail users can use optional programs - Gmail Notifier and Google Talk - that inform users when they have new messages. Both are available for free download from the Google website.
Students also cited junk mail filters they found to be far superior to Webmail. "I switched to Gmail because starting last spring, I started receiving a ton of spam on my Tufts account," senior Marina Shaw said. "I never used to receive any, and all of a sudden it was as if the Tufts Webmail filters just stopped working."
Whitehead agreed. "I had a lot of problems with junk mail with the Tufts account," she said.
The students interviewed who have made the switch are not alone: more than 500 Tufts students on TheFacebook.com now list Gmail, rather than Webmail, addresses.
Gmail isn't perfect. There is increasing criticism about Gmail's information and privacy policies. The issue is mainly based on phrases in Gmail's Privacy Policy that state it will disclose personal information, including the actual text of e-mails, if it has a "good faith belief" that a disclosure is necessary to (among other reasons) "protect the rights, property, or safety of...the public."
"I have Gmail for out-of-school use and my [Tufts] e-mail for professional stuff because it's an education e-mail address and looks more professional," Yu said. "If I am signing up for stuff online, I will use Gmail. But there are more privacy concerns that have been raised about Gmail and other free e-mail service providers."
Despite these concerns, Whitehead said the pros of Gmail outweigh the cons.
"I am very satisfied with Gmail," she said. "I wouldn't go back to Tufts [Webmail] at all."
