Webmail tops USG Senate meeting agenda

USG vice president Mike Wang ’10 described the Sun Java Webmail system as “highly in need of improvement.”

Among the problems with the current Webmail system discussed at the meeting were its inabilities to filter messages, to search through multiple folders at the same time and to retrieve e-mail addresses previously used when the user types in the first few letters.

The representatives from OIT, who included senior manager of customer services Leila Shahbender, presented students with the options they are currently considering, stressing that no decisions have been made yet.

One of the options under consideration is “moving most students to Exchange [a Microsoft e-mail front similar to Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird],” explained Charlayne Beavers, technology integration specialist at support services at OIT.

“We’re doing this assessment [regarding student opinions of the e-mail system], and in the background we’re doing an assessment on cost-analysis to try to determine which way to go,” Beavers said.

Shahbender also brought up a “digital [student] suitcase” available at princeton.edu/suitcase, which is an online service students can use to create a downloadable zip file for storing their Princeton University e-mail, files on their H drive and blog entries.

Though this service is “meant for people who are leaving campus [so that they] can take all their intellectual property with them, anyone can use it while they’re at Princeton if they want to back up their H drive or back up their e-mails,” Shahbender said.

USG social chair Christian Husby ’08 said he used to use the Sun Java Webmail system but has since converted to Gmail because of the other features it included, such as a place to store documents and a calendar.

Students also prefer to use other applications because of the notifications that pop up when they receive an e-mail, U-Councilor Becca Silver ’09 said.

That the University increased the size of the e-mail quota five-fold, however, was helpful, Class of 2010 senator Cole Morris said.

U-Councilor Liz Rosen ’10 added that another benefit of the current system is the effectiveness of the University’s junk-mail filter.

Students also expressed a desire during the meeting to retain their Princeton e-mail addresses after they graduated.

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“To notify everybody [about a new e-mail address] would just be kind of a hassle,” Husby said.

Even if the University did outsource its e-mail, most students agreed that they would prefer to keep “Princeton” in their e-mail addresses.

“We can’t promise to implement anything with a new system, but we’re trying to get feedback from you to find the best fit possible,” said Joseph Karam, manager of enterprise infrastructure services at OIT.

Another item on the meeting agenda was amending Article III, Section D of the USG constitution to stipulate that “all appropriations from the Senate Pilot Programs fund which are greater than $1000” must require Senate approval. The amendment was approved unanimously.

Finally, USG president Josh Weinstein ’09 encouraged students to attend Ivy Council meetings, at which student government representatives from across the Ivy League gather to discuss campus issues.

While he acknowledged that the Ivy Council has been faulted for its lack of accomplishments, Weinstein said he found attending the meetings helpful because it gives him a chance to hear about issues at other Universities.

The next Ivy Council meeting will occur this Friday afternoon at Cornell.