The Daily Collegian

Issue date: 4/24/07 Section: News

Senior Mark Gallagher tried to promote a protest against Andy Card, who came to UMass on April 11, by sending out a mass e-mail to everyone in the English department without authorization from the administration.

Before the former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card visited the University of Massachusetts, every member of the English department, including student English majors and professors, opened their e-mail accounts to read a letter promoting a protest to be held at the lecture itself. This mass e-mail was sent from a UMass student.

According to UMass' Office of Information Technologies (OIT), mass emailing to a major is password-protected and for administrator use only. But somehow, two e-mails were sent explaining the protest's details, along with two other e-mails claiming that the previous two were "mistakes."

The first e-mail was sent on Sunday, April 8 at 4:39 p.m. to all English majors and professors by UMass senior Mark Gallagher.

The e-mail stated, "Massive demonstration at Andy Card lecture, Wednesday, April

11, at 11 a.m. in the Student Union Ballroom."

Another e-mail was sent several minutes later in which Gallagher apologized for the previous message, stating, "Sorry, that message about the Protest planned at the Former Bush White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was intended for UMass Amherst Students for Peace. Sorry again about the mix-up."

Gallagher then sent another e-mail three days later on Wednesday, April 11, stating something akin to the first, followed by another apology e-mail. According to OIT, it was impossible for Gallagher to mass email English majors without an administrator password.

"I think you have to be added in from an administrator. An administrator would have to un-moderate you in order for you to send out the mailing list," said a representative at OIT. "The student that sent out the email must have been un-moderated by someone."

Gallagher, however, said that his e-mailing was the result of an accident.

"I meant to send out an e-mail to UMass Students for Peace," he said, "I accidentally sent the announcement about the demonstration to the English major list-serve. The English department has a mailing list to communicate items of interest to students in the major and it is available to all English majors - there's no password involved."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools