Letter to the Editor: Students, Read the SAB emails you asked for

Home Opinion Letter to the Editor: Students, Read the SAB emails you asked for
Letter to the Editor: Students, Read the SAB emails you asked for

Dear Editor,

Within the last year or two, students have, in these pages and on social media platforms, expressed their frustration with the “excessive” number of all-campus emails they receive daily. Indeed, we members of the faculty and staff often find ourselves frustrated at the number of mass emails we receive daily.

The Student Activities Board newsletter seemed like a perfect solution — a one-stop shop for announcements of all kinds. Earlier this year, an email to faculty and staff heavily encouraged us to take advantage of the SAB newsletter to alert students to things, rather than to continue sending emails to the whole student body.

I thought surely students would take the time to look over the SAB newsletter, as they knew it would replace and therefore contain all the information previously sent in all-campus emails.

I recently used the SAB newsletter to announce journalism scholarships and publication editor applications. I received few submissions. Panicked, I sent out a typical all-campus email advertising these items and quickly got many responses from students who said they did not see the announcements because they don’t read the SAB email. What are we to do? Students ignore and complain about mass emails, and ignore and delete SAB emails. The SAB newsletter is an excellent tool, and one that students advocated for. Students: we are not going to send you important information via text or Snapchat. You asked for a condensed, information packed email, and you got it. Now you should read it.

Sincerely,

Maria Servold ’10
Assistant Director, Dow Journalism Program
Faculty Advisor to Student Publications