‘Thumbs-Down’ highlights EagleMail problem

Last week’s issue of The Eagle featured a “Thumbs-Down” to students’ EagleMail accounts giving them trouble by taking e-mails from professors and placing them in “junk mail.”

Giving the problem a “Thumbs-Down” prompted the CSC Information Technology department to provide an update on certain aspects of the issue.

An e-mail Monday from Andrew Schmid, IT support specialist, states an issue causing Sakai e-mails to be flagged as junk e-mail in EagleMail was corrected on Oct. 5.

Schmid’s e-mail stated, “Please check your EagleMail account for instructions on marking e-mails you receive as ‘not junk.’

“If you have any questions regarding your EagleMail account please call the IT Helpdesk at 432-6311, or by e-mail at [email protected], or in person at Miller Hall room 115.

“Office hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.”

In contrast to this statement, reporters for The Eagle heard from several students that the issue was not just with Sakai e-mails.

Accordingly, The Eagle conducted an informal poll of students in the Student Center Tuesday.

Reporters asked 32 respondents, “Did you know that EagleMail has been flagging school e-mails as spam?” Twenty responded yes, 12 responded no.

Of the 20 who said yes, they asked, “Has this happened to you?” Seventeen responded yes, three responded no.

They then asked, “Have you talked to IT about this?” Zero responded yes, 20 responded no.

Finally, they asked, “Has IT contacted you about this?” One responded yes, 19 responded no.

Several students offered that they were aware of how to flag e-mails “not junk,” but were displeased that others were inexplicably still flagged as “junk.”

As of Wednesday morning, most students received an e-mail from the helpdesk with instructions for preventing legitimate e-mails from being flagged as spam.

The e-mail did not specifically address the issue of campus-generated e-mails being sent directly to the junk folder.