Every single person associated with Rutgers Newark recently received an email from Marcia Brown of the Provost’s Office outlining what types of email qualify to be delivered via RAMS (Rutgers Automated Mass-Mailing System). According to the email, RAMS has a strict set of guidelines that must be met before an email is forwarded to the entire school. Various moderators appointed by the Provost’s office are responsible for reviewing these emails. If an email is approved, it is then sent to just about everyone involved with Rutgers Newark, a little over 10,200 people.

Try as the moderators might, my inbox is still filled with a bunch of crap that I really just couldn’t care less about.

I've spoken with several fellow students about this, and I've yet to meet one enjoys getting the RAMS emails. In fact, several of them don't even bother checking their pegasus accounts because their inbox is filled with "school spam." Many of the people I've talked to just use their personal email address if they need to communicate with professors.

The email address I registered with Rutgers, however, is (was) my personal/family/friends/work/professor email address, because I check that one most frequently and it's not full of a bunch garbage from the internet. Registering that address made sense at the time. And yes, I could change my Rutgers contact email, but I shouldn’t have to, damnit. My logic was this: if a professor needed to get a hold of me promptly, they'd be able to do so. Makes sense, right?

Unfortunately, that didn't go as planned. When I get a new email notification, I'll check my account in hopes that perhaps my professor emailed me back about the questions I have on an upcoming paper or my grandmother wrote me back or maybe a long lost friend had contacted me. But no. It's an email informing me that there is a "SPRING 2008 GRADUATE COURSE IN COLLEGE TEACHING" available.
Wonderful. I'm an undergraduate student with no interest in teaching. Thanks for the info.

The following are several other examples of the subjects of some "school spam" that I've received within the past month, followed my commentary on each one:

• A New Plan for Rutgers Alumni – Honestly, this is some good information. But the thing is: I still have a year until I graduate. I’m not an alumnus yet, I don’t care. I’m concerned about here and now. Email the Alumni and soon-to-be alumni about this, not me.
• DeStress Fest FALL 2007 Schedule of Events - I'll find my own ways to destress, thanks. Making my own "stress ball' is by far the last method I'll implore to destress. The next time you feel like emailing the entire school about some high school-esque methods of destressing, do me a favor: don't.
• ATTENTION STUDENTS! Don't Miss Out on This Unique Opportunity! Doing Business in China Study Trip Spring Break 2008- A few spaces are still available! - AWESOME! REALLY?!!? I'm a Biology major. I don't care.
• Exciting news... re: Java's Brewin – Thanks for that. I live in University Square. I see the place every time I walk out of the building to go to class. I’m a pretty observant dude; I’d probably be able to figure out when it’s open without an email.
• Babyland Family Violence Shleter – Sure, this email was sent out about a good cause. More power to the cause, good for them. Call me insensitive, but I don’t care. As a matter of fact, I hate kids. Yeah, I was one once, but I just don’t like kids. Why am I receiving emails about them? Also, did anyone notice that an email sent to the ENTIRE RUTGERS NEWARK CAMPUS misspelled the word “Shelter?” Go, go gadget spell check!

Yes, a lot of the emails I mentioned are potentially important to students who are commuters, I won’t deny that. Yes, a lot of people actually do need to read these superfluous emails. Don’t worry, I’ll feed you baby birds…

Alright. So we’ve established that the “school spam” really pisses me off and the majority of other students. While a lot of people will sit there and just bitch and whine, I’ll actually offer a solution to the problem.

Seeing how this is a college campus, I’d imagine that just about everyone here has a Facebook account and is fairly familiar with the website.

On a side note: if you don’t have Facebook, what’s your deal? Pull your self together man, join the rest of the world and get an account!

That aside, Facebook has the option to select what type of emails you’d like to receive from the website. Rutgers Newark should implement something similar.

Here’s a simple solution: When you register your school email address, there should be a very brief questionnaire. You should be asked which types of emails you wish to receive from the school. Your residence should also be included in this survey, as students who live on campus tend to know about events on campus long before the flood of emails.

Anyone who knows me will vouch that I’m a huge computer/science nerd, so I have an idea of how hard this would be to implement. Seeing how we have a computer science department full of programmers here, this quick questionnaire could probably be programmed and implemented within an hour or two.

So what’s the deal, Rutgers Newark Administration and Computer Services? When are you going to implement a logical solution to this flood of superfluous emails that everyone associated with the campus is plagued with?