2008 Woodie Awards
Logouts to be Long Gone
SGA-Sponsored Gmail Program Begins Testing
Mollie Reilly
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News
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Get ready to say goodbye to closed inboxes, unexpected logouts and lost e-mails. Student Government Association (SGA) President senior Rob Sobelman, along with the assistance of SGA Policy Coordinator for Technology Initiatives sophomore Mike Schneider and Network and System Administrator Bill Howell, is working to replace Colgate's Microsoft Outlook Webmail system with Google's Gmail platform.
The idea of switching e-mail systems began during Sobelman's presidential campaign last spring. Sobelman and running mate SGA Vice President senior Jenny Dorland ran into many students who felt the Webmail system was inadequate.
One of the main issues that students had with the system was the lack of storage space. After filling their inboxes with just 40 megabytes, about 100 to 150 e-mails according to Schneider, students receive messages notifying them that their inbox is full and will not be able to receive more e-mail until older messages have been deleted.
The Webmail system also includes an automatic timed logout feature that has been notorious for logging students out of their Webmail accounts in the middle of writing e-mails without saving their drafts.
Other issues with the current system include slow connection speeds, high financial costs associated with operating the system on the University's servers and the lack of user-friendly features.
"We thought moving to a system that was less expensive, easier to use and had more storage would be a good idea," Sobelman said.
Sobelman had heard of other peer institutions, such as Northwestern University, switching over to Google's Gmail system with strong results. After discussing the idea with Schneider and with Information Technology Services, the project was given the green light.
Schneider has been testing the system since August, and is opening up the testing to fifteen more students this week. SGA plans on gradually acquiring as many testers as possible to make sure that the system will meet student needs.
The idea of switching e-mail systems began during Sobelman's presidential campaign last spring. Sobelman and running mate SGA Vice President senior Jenny Dorland ran into many students who felt the Webmail system was inadequate.
One of the main issues that students had with the system was the lack of storage space. After filling their inboxes with just 40 megabytes, about 100 to 150 e-mails according to Schneider, students receive messages notifying them that their inbox is full and will not be able to receive more e-mail until older messages have been deleted.
The Webmail system also includes an automatic timed logout feature that has been notorious for logging students out of their Webmail accounts in the middle of writing e-mails without saving their drafts.
Other issues with the current system include slow connection speeds, high financial costs associated with operating the system on the University's servers and the lack of user-friendly features.
"We thought moving to a system that was less expensive, easier to use and had more storage would be a good idea," Sobelman said.
Sobelman had heard of other peer institutions, such as Northwestern University, switching over to Google's Gmail system with strong results. After discussing the idea with Schneider and with Information Technology Services, the project was given the green light.
Schneider has been testing the system since August, and is opening up the testing to fifteen more students this week. SGA plans on gradually acquiring as many testers as possible to make sure that the system will meet student needs.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Rob Sobelman
posted 11/18/07 @ 9:27 PM EST
If you are interested in trying out the new Colgate Gmail, please contact Mike Schneider '10 (mschneider@students.colgate.edu).
Devon Skerritt '00
posted 11/25/07 @ 8:56 PM EST
I applaud the move to SGA to take up an issue that directly impacts students' lives and by working immediately with ITS. While I am a big proponent of Gmail (check my email address), it will be interesting to see if the change can both work well with the Colgate admininistrative email systems and be secure enough to warrant the change. (Continued…)
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