Out Of Control Emails Blast UTEP Student Inboxes

It’s not unusual to get an unwanted spam message or two in your email from time to time.

But some UTEP students found up to 66 messages in their inboxes this week from university distribution lists.

It all began Wednesday morning with an email message from the university about a UTEP student exchange program to Canada.

But then, something went wrong.

Instead of private responses only returning to the program leader, each reply was sent to everyone on the list.

The first replies were innocent, only showing interest in the exchange program.

But then as students noticed their inboxes filling up, the comments became crude and laden with profanity.

“I was really annoyed by it because usually I just use my account for school and work purposes, and to me it just seemed like a desperate cry for attention from some of the students,” said UTEP student Tobias Berger. “I thought it was pretty ridiculous.”

Some of the emails detailed party invites to play video games like Halo and drink beer.

Others were vulger, like “F****** UTEP! C********** School!” from a withheld email address.

By the time the emails stopped, 66 messages were sent.

As for how many students got the messages, university officials told us they are still investigating the incident are unsure about how many students were affected.

Those who took the time to read each message say they were shocked by the responses as they not only reflect poorly on the university, but also on the students themselves.

“Even if it’s not an official networking site, you network yourself anywhere and we should be careful of where we post things, and what we’re willing to attract to our own name,” said UTEP senior Lauren Pace.

ABC-7 spoke with one of the responders who had posted one of the less than savory replies. When asked how he felt his comments made the university or even himself look, he replied, “No comment.”