Joseph Cutaran is not an art major, he's not involved in any OU drama productions and he doesn't need pre-algebra tutoring.

However, Cutaran, electrical engineering sophomore, said he continues to receive about 15 e-mails each day advertising OU art, drama, tutoring and other programs in which he is not involved or interested.

"I wouldn't mind (receiving e-mail) if it was something that was important to me, but a lot of times I get stuff from organizations that I'm not even affiliated with," Cutaran said.

Cutaran and several other OU students say OU's e-mail system is a source of annoyance now that unsolicited mass e-mailing has become a popular way for campus organizations and colleges to advertise their events and programs.

Cutaran said the high amount of unsolicited e-mail he receives through his OU e-mail account is annoying because it slows down his computer.

John Bona, university college freshman, said his OU e-mail account is a problem because he has to sort through numerous unsolicited e-mails in order to get to important e-mails from his professors.

"It's contributing to my carpal tunnel syndrome because I have to click, click, click," Bona said.

Although mass e-mail is sent to students who are not affiliated with the sender, sometimes the information contained in the e-mail can be valuable, said Grant Rodiek, international business and professional writing sophomore. Rodiek said he is not interested in 75 percent of the e-mail he receives on his OU e-mail account. However, the other 25 percent is interesting and important.

"It's worth the few that squeak by," Rodiek said.

Steven O'Geary, OU Institutional Review Board manager, said he sent mass e-mail to OU e-mail accounts this semester to advertise a workshop related to the IRB. Although OU Public Affairs approved the e-mail, the IRB still received several complaints from students and faculty who felt that the e-mail should not have been sent to them.

However, mass e-mail was the only way IRB could disseminate the information in a cost-efficient and effective way, O'Geary said.

Mass e-mail is really a service to the OU community, O'Geary said. "There's a greater ability to distribute information to a larger audience."

OU Press Secretary Jeff Hickman said that only two official OU mass e-mails have been sent this semester and both were approved by Public Affairs. However, it's possible that the various campus organizations and colleges could set up their own listservs in order to send unsolicited mass e-mail. Hickman said OU does not have any official policy on unsolicited e-mail sent by campus organizations or colleges.

"Obviously, we are always reviewing our options and policies to ensure that the e-mail system operates as efficiently as possible," Hickman said. "If students are having problems with this, we will look at options to filter or reduce unwanted e-mail."

According to information distributed by OU Information Technology, there are several ways to reduce the number of unsolicited e-mails received. E-mail users should always delete all unsolicited mail without clicking on any Web links or attachments; users should never reply to unsolicited e-mail; users should avoid giving out their primary e-mail address.

Although there are ways that OU e-mail users can reduce the number of unsolicited e-mails they receive, several students say OU should take a more proactive approach in protecting students' accounts. John Bona said that instead of ignoring campus organizations and colleges that send mass e-mail, OU should adopt a policy that would limit them to posting information on the Sooner Information Network only.

Cutaran said campus organizations and colleges should solve the problem themselves by limiting mass e-mail to members of their program. "They should send e-mails and notices only to their target audiences."
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