Students find voicemail announcements irritating
Mass voicemail, primarily about upcoming football games, have become a nuisance, some students say.
Sarah Chacko
Skiff Staff

Some students say they are annoyed by the bulletin board feature on the campus voicemail system that broadcasts announcements, including reminders for football games.

But while some students are bothered by the messages, no official complaints have been reported to Business Services, the department that overrides out-going mass voicemails.

The system has been in place since 1996, when e-mail wasn’t so prevalent, Business Services Director Travis Cook said. The board is available to Residential Services, the athletics department and the administration and is broadcast to all students living in residence halls.

The athletics department used the feature last year to announce each home game and has been the only regular user of the feature, Cook said.

“The bulletin board is used to quickly notify students of whatever the case may be,” Cook said.

Tim George, marketing director for the athletics department, said the feature is now used as part of their marketing strategy.

“Many students had told us they didn’t even know when the games were being played,” George said.

The bulletin board is intended to raise student awareness of home football games, he said.

Senior political science major Tahira Hussain said she was annoyed because the messages seem like an advertisement.

“It was like having to listen to a telemarketer or a commercial,” Hussain said.

Hussain said the messages were similar to phone calls she receives from credit card companies and the “Bulletin Broadcast Review” sounded more like an enthusiastic commercial.

“The messages were not harassing,” Hussain said. “I’m just not interested in hearing about football.”

A few students said they had trouble deleting or skipping over the messages, which they said only made them more annoyed. That is just the way the system was manufactured and it cannot be modified, Cook said. Students can skip the bulletins by pressing the pound key twice or delete them by pushing the seven key.

Despite all their grievances, students are entitled to their own opinions and, Cook said, his department will certainly listen to them.

And there are some students that aren’t as opposed to the voicemail system.

Junior sociology major Shae Moore said it is a good way to keep students informed and get them to the games, though the messages should be kept to a minimum.

Moore said it raises school spirit because it helps students get excited about the games and may raise student involvement.

Courtney Arbour, a sophomore marketing major, said students would be more accepting of messages if they had a greater impact on students’ lives as opposed to simple reminders of school activities.