CMU students generally prefer cmich e-mail accounts

More schools than ever are considering dropping student e-mail accounts.

Central Michigan University is working on expanding theirs.

More students get their essential e-mail connection from CMU than the national average, according to a study conducted by the Faculty Center for Information Technology in 2006 that showed 84.2 percent of CMU students preferred their university e-mail to other forms. This number is higher than the average of 82.8 percent across other four-year institutions.

“There is a sort of mounting thought of the idea of not assigning e-mail addresses,” said Roger Rehm, vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer.

A study conducted by EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit promoting information technology for higher education, indicated around 25 percent of doctoral institutions such as CMU have begun to consider ending e-mail address services.

This number is a marked increase from the 1 to 2 percent figures of 2004. But Rehm is not entertaining the idea.

“It would disadvantage a number of students and that would concern me,” he said.

Benefits do not outweigh risks

While higher education in general is getting to the point where it begins to consider e-mail roughly equivalent to paper mail, Rehm said, the benefits just do not outweigh the potential risks.

“(The CMU account) is the primary account that I use,” said Madison Heights sophomore Emily Denryter. “Most of the people I know mostly use the CMU account.”

She said she only had one other account which she used to keep up with a student group, and she is happy with CMU’s service.

“That’s my primary account,” said Rockford senior Samantha Corey.

Corey had a Hotmail account before starting at CMU, but began using her university mail to keep in touch with her professors.

Jackson freshman Chance McBride does not consider his university account to be his primary address, but he does use it for all his educational and professional correspondence.

“I have my school (stuff) on there — I don’t like getting other stuff to clutter it up,” McBride said.

The university e-mail accounts serve as communications centers for students, as well as ensuring a lack of liability for the university.

As long as CMU has one place provided by the university where students can go to check their grades and financial data, CMU does not have to worry as much about potential mix-ups, Rehm said.

“It’s a safety net,” he said.