By STEVE STAEGER

Senior Reporter

There are possible solutions on the table to speed up the Oakland University Webmail system, but it is unknown when a decision will be made, according to Terri Rowe, CIO for University Technological Services (UTS).

“The reason the system is operating slowly is because there are more people using the system and the volume of e-mail has gone up,” Rowe said.

More people receiving a high volume of spam e-mail and Oakland’s continually growing population are contributing to the sluggishness, according to Rowe.

“I wish we could just look at the server and speed it up, but we can’t,” Rowe said.

The only solution to speed up the e-mail would be to switch from the service the university currently uses.

One of the solutions is to switch the Webmail service provider from Mirapoint to Gmail, but Rowe said this is only one of several options.

Rowe said she isn’t sure when a final decision will be made or when e-mail will be operating at full capacity again.

“We are certainly not sitting on it,” Rowe said. “No department at this university sits on anything.”

“Every department at this university enthusiastically works hard to get things done for the students.”

UTS posted a message on the Webmail Web site on Jan. 22 asking students to cut down on group e-mails before 5 p.m. and to reduce the amount of personal e-mail they send and receive.

But sophomore Josh Bihary chooses to ignore the plea to move his personal      e-mail to another account.

“It’s easier to have one e-mail account,” Bihary said. “That way I don’t have to look at a bunch of different accounts.”  

And Bihary, like many other OU students, uses one word to describe Webmail’s sluggishness: annoying.

“I hope they fix it soon,” Bihary said.

He is not alone.

“Trying to log into Webmail is like spending an hour trying to find the right key for a lock,” said sophomore Mike Noto.

Noto has moved all of his personal e-mail over to another account on Hotmail.

“It’s just an inconvenience,” Noto said.   

Sophomore Ashley Height uses Webmail for everything and has resorted to just wait it out.

“It can take anywhere from 20 seconds to a few minutes, but it’s the only e-mail I use so I stick with it,” Height said.

Senior Joshua Miller entered the URL for Webmail last Monday and it was taking so long to load that he decided to take a walk from his desk in the Oakland University Student Congress office.

According to Miller, he walked to North Foundation Hall and chatted with a friend for 15 minutes before returning to his desk.

When he returned, the page was still loading.  

After it finally loaded, he entered his username and password and then waited 10 minutes until he could finally read his messages.

Since then, he’s forwarded all his e-mail to his personal Gmail account.

“They raised tuition nearly 14 percent and now we can’t open e-mail,” Miller said. “Get better equipment.”

OUSC Vice President Jameelah Muhammad said the OUSC hasn’t started working with UTS to find a solution yet, but slow e-mail is a problem that the OUSC will explore.

“It’s something that we can address, but I encourage students to get in touch with UTS and the dean’s office to voice their concerns,” said Muhammad.