Imagine your life without email.
In 1992, Penn’s campus was just coming around to the then-new technology.
At the time, only School of Engineering and Applied Science, Wharton School and School of Nursing students had access to a Penn email account, as well as a handful of School of Arts and Sciences faculty. College students were not as lucky, and they could only receive an account with special permission from a professor.
The perceived injustice was met with protest from students. “[College students] pay the same money as Engineering students or Wharton or Nursing students, so we should be able to get the same services,” College freshman at the time Ken Sable told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
On April 15, the DP ran an article reporting that College students would receive Penn email accounts by 1994. As then-School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Computing Ben Goldstein said, email would be given to students in phases.
“The new email machine has arrived on campus. We are in the process of installing the operating system now,” Goldstein added.
He further speculated the benefits of campus-wide email, saying that faculty could use the technology to send students “assignments, questions, answers and homework results.”
“As long as the students and faculty understand the value of email, it can be a tremendous time-saver and have a very positive impact on the educational and research environment,” he added.
While most students were excited, some were apathetic.
“I really don’t care. I don’t even have a computer,” former College freshman Bill Cooper said.
Almost 20 years later, email accounts are campus-wide and have surely lost the novelty that once excited Penn students.
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