Is Emailing Professors About School Schedule Changes Spam?
from the whatever-you-don't-like-is-spam dept
One of the biggest problems with any kind of regulations concerning "spam" is that people define it very differently -- with the core definition tending to be "anything I don't like" which is rather difficult to reduce into written regulation. That problem seems to be cropping up at Michigan State, where a student is being disciplined for spamming the faculty. The student was upset about a plan to shorten the 2009 fall semester, and sent emails to 391 faculty members, alerting them to the planned change, and pointing out how it could impact their syllabi and schedules. Apparently one out of the 391 professors complained about this as spam, and the school notes that its rules say email to more than 30 people is considered spam (the actual policy seems to leave some wiggle room, but not much).While you could see how professors would get annoyed if they were constantly bombarded by students supporting different causes asking for help, it's still difficult to see how this particular use of the email system really counts as spam. Some are pointing out that, since Michigan State is a public university, it needs to protect students' free speech rights -- and disciplining this student goes against those rights. Overall, the fear should be that this sort of disciplinary process acts as a hindrance to public participation among students. If actually trying to get out the word on an issue, by sending emails to the folks who are impacted, is likely to get them disciplined, then won't people start to think twice before even bothering? Is that the message Michigan State is trying to send to its students?
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Filed Under: activism, spam, students
Companies: michigan state university
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I tend to define spam as unsolicited emails from people I don't know, not just anything I don't like.
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To be fair, the policy at the school points out that email mailing lists are fine. It's based on how many addresses you specifically enter into the to: cc: and bcc: lines.
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The distinction comes when something like posting on a campus message board is a bit less 'in your face' then emailing someone directly, but the danger is that if such a method was widely used, the email system would become unusable.
As a University researcher I'm on a few internal email lists; the vast majority mail I get are various internal/admin stuff, irrelevant. Lecturers get several times that useless volume and have to spend a good deal of time sifting the important stuff. Professors get more still.
But you can't just block this stuff or filter it, often its important to keep it as records. But if people start abusing the system it creates a huge headache for everyone.
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Getting a little tired of the cavalier use of Free Speech
Free speech is not an unrestricted right. It does not mean that you can say anything you want, wherever you want, and however you want, free of consequence. Free speech will always be balanced by the rights of others (safety, privacy, property, etc.).
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This is a case of absolute rediculousness
If only one out of 391 professors complained about the so-called "spam" that he received, then to me it seems like the other 390 felt it was useful. What's next? Is no one going to be able to make an announcement in front of a group of people because we are now going to call it "verbal spam?" Was the United States built on an "I don't want to hear your opinion so now I will punish you for having one" basis? I didn't think so...
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mostly sports.
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So let's look at the 390 faculty members that didn't complain. Were they "in the know" already? Did the other 390 faculty learn of this change by the "Offending email" which, really is better described as time-sensitive fact? Silly, silly.
Then there's the one person who complained: Why did they think it was offensive? Was it actually their job to offend others with sharing the compressed schedule, and they were denied this quasi-fascist luxury?
You'd think the University Administration had better, more important things to do than to go on a witch hunt and burn people at the stake.
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I think that says that his message was relevant and properly aimed.
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another day in court?
Spamcop raises what potentially could be an interesting legal question, if this were to go to court (and if it was raised by her attorneys): federal pre-emption. I'm no expert in this particular area of the law, but have encountered it once or twice. In general, the concept is that where Congress chooses through legislation to regulate some form of activity, it may be the case that state institutions may not impose more restrictive regulations. There are a number of prerequisites to a finding of preemption, and the SCOTUS has a major preemption case in front of it this session, but it's something that, were I her attorney, I'd take ten or twenty hours and really research the heck out of -- or at least the four or five hours it would take to do an initial and very preliminary evaluation of the theory.
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definition of spam
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