Students fault e-mail server for delays, backlogs

20.10.2007

Dogs might not be eating USC students' homework, but faults with the university's e-mail server are.

"I just had some trouble receiving an attachment from one of my professors that had feedback I needed for an assignment," said Alexis Lothian, a doctoral student in English and assistant lecturer for the writing program. "It's a problem because we rely on e-mail to get information to students and teachers quickly, and the current system is unreliable."

Lothian is one of many students and faculty members who find the university's current server inadequate. Common complaints include a lack of storage space, constant spam and the format of the e-mail program itself.

"The storage space is bad," said Elysia Becerra, a junior majoring in biological sciences. "It keeps deleting e-mails because of the low quota. Plus, it's not that user-friendly or organized. It's not pretty to look at."

Information Technology Services typically receives hundreds of e-mail-related calls per day at the beginning of each semester, said Leyla Ezdinli, associate director of communications at ITS. The number usually lessens as students become more acquainted with the server. To minimize calls, ITS now posts alerts online to warn students of e-mail server problems, she said.

The most recent alert, posted Oct. 5, acknowledged problems with the e-mail system, but according to ITS, e-mail service was "restored and stabilized" less than an hour after the alert was posted.

Despite persistent complaints made by students and faculty about the server's faults, ITS maintains it is functioning properly.

"ITS does not consider there to be a 'backlogging' problem at USC," Ezdinli said. "There have been a few issues in the past couple of months which have affected e-mail delivery. Under normal circumstances, e-mail delivery is virtually immediate."

The current server is the latest model of the Sun Java System Messaging Server, which is widely used by businesses and universities. The system at USC has been regularly updated by ITS since its 2002 launch to meet changing technology needs, Ezdinli said.

But some students say these improvements are not enough.

"I haven't had any problems in general, but they do need to improve the spam filter," said Sammy Goldenberg, a freshman majoring in history. "It needs to be relaxed because it can be hard e-mailing professors. If you're not very specific, it's marked as spam and won't go through. If they can see that it's a USC e-mail address, it should be able to go through."

One possibility for improvement comes in the form of Google Apps for Education, an initiative finalized by USC and Google in August, with availability to students by the spring semester. The program, which is already used by students in the Gould School of Law and Viterbi School of Engineering, allows users to access Gmail features such as online document production, increased storage space and integrated chat while still sending messages from a USC domain name.

"Once a student decides to opt into Google mail and forward e-mail to a Google account, Google's antispam software will scan e-mail associated with the account," Ezdinli said. "It will offer students the benefits of USC-branded Gmail accounts."

Whether or not relief comes in the form of Google Apps for Education, some students say that if USC does not improve the e-mail server soon, they will turn to alternative sources for their e-mail accounts.

"I was actually talking to someone else about these problems, and they told me how to convert my e-mail from this server to make it go directly to my Yahoo! account," Becerra said. "I did it because I like Yahoo! better, and I already know it well. I don't even check my USC account anymore."