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AUC’s e-mail failure hinders communication at university
After two weeks of intermittent software failures that
crashed the university’s email system and caused campus-wide chaos,
the American University in Cairo (AUC)’s email system has been repaired,
said John Stuckey, chief technology officer.
“ We now have all the messages [blocked by the system damage] retrieved,”
he said, “The problem is totally solved.”
The damage was caused by a major power outage at the university on Friday
Nov.9. Stuckey, who assumed the new position of chief technology officer
at the beginning of this month, added that the problem occured as a result
of the electricity failure that damaged the two generators, which he called
“unfortunate.”
On the Nov.19, Stuckey posted a message on News @ AUC, warning users that
although the system appeared to be stable, another failure could occur
at any time.
“We believe that the server was physically damaged, and this is
where the email system is [supported],” said Paul Donoghue, vice
president for planning and administration.
He added that it was the most serious email situation University Network
Service (UNS), which is responsible for all networks within AUC, had ever
faced and that AUC had invested a lot of money last year to stop this
from happening.
“It is the end of the semester and this problem is so inconvenient
for us now because so much of our work is dependent on email, especially
contacting our students or receiving assignments from them,” said
Shaheen Pasha, JRMC professor, about the failure of the email system.
The problem began appearing as suddenly empty email inboxes, messages
that told users they had a wrong password and blocked messages.
During the email system failure, students found it difficult to communicate
with their professors.
“I have to check my mail like five times a day and I couldn’t
access it for four days in a row. I lost contact with my professors who
I needed to ask questions about assignments. I am going crazy,”
said Fouad Hassan, anthropology junior, before the system was restored.
Students not only use email to contact their professors but also to keep
in contact with friends and family. “I stopped receiving all the
emails sent to me by my friends and there was a lot of miscommunications
between us and also with my professors,” said Ali Atef, a graduating
senior in anthropology and political science.
Stuckey sent an email on Tuesday, Nov.13, to tell users about the damage
that was caused by the power outage. But not everyone got it.
“They didn’t inform us a lot about the problem. They only
informed us once but throughout the day they didn’t [inform us of
updates],” said Elizabeth Coker, psychology professor. She added
that she doesn’t depend much on email to contact her students because
she uses WEBCT, a student website that allows students to access anything
that has to do with their classes, and that it was working well.
“We can never promise that the technology will be perfect, but we
hope that everything will be fine in the future,” said Stuckey,
adding that the UNS team is planning to avoid this problem from happening
again through “a more secure, diverse and flexible system.”
