Student Assembly's "Uh-oh" e-mail announcements are expected to return beginning Wednesday morning after their fall term hiatus, according to Leslie Shribman '08, a Student Assembly class representative. Shribman, who wrote the e-mails via BlitzMail from Fall term 2005 to Summer term 2006, said that a technological failure with the system's server is to blame for the dearth.
"Uh-oh" e-mails, an Assembly initiative, alert students of deadlines -- ones for registrar check-in, interim housing and dropping classes -- a day or two before they occur. This term's first BlitzMail message will alert students about the upcoming deadline for finalizing a two-, three- or four-course term, and electing to use the non-recording option.
A member of the Assembly's web team, Sam Reisner '02, explained that Computer Services provides a specific server that the Assembly uses to send the announcements to students. At some point last term the server stopped working.
"It looks like they made some upgrades to [the server] and something broke in the process," Reisner said.
Shribman, who was on the Spanish LSA last term, did not learn about the problem with the server until she arrived back on campus this term.
"I handed it over for someone else to do for this fall because I was gone," she said. "I didn't even notice it wasn't working. When I got back I heard complaints, and that's when I looked into fixing it."
Last week Shribman alerted Reisner to the problem with the system and he has been working to fix it since then. Reisner did not comment on why he was not alerted about the server problems until this term.
The Assembly began the "Uh-oh" e-mail announcement program in 2001, and students have grown accustomed to the service. Its absence was noted, especially by students who suffered from its hiatus.
Last term Mirelle Phillips '07 decided to withdraw from a class, but failed to get a withdrawal slip signed by the deadline. She ultimately had to petition for the withdrawal. She attributes her mistake to the lack of an announcement warning her about the deadline.
"I had relied on the Uh-oh blitzes that usually are sent out to remind students of important deadlines like that, ones we usually don't think of in the midst of the term," she said. "It was definitely an oversight in my case, but that small Uh-oh blitz would have definitely prevented me from missing the deadline. Unfortunately it took its absence for me to realize that."
Phillips recalls her petition process with frustration.
"I wish no student that bureaucratic stress during their term," she said.
