Duck and cover: U of T passes rules on crisis response

U of T’s Governing Council approved the university’s new “Policy on Crisis Preparedness and Response” on February 10, a set of guidelines that will determine how administrators respond to disasters or calamities. Designated “Crisis Managers” on each campus will be given special authority during emergencies to do what’s necessary to safeguard students, staff, faculty, and other campus hangers-on. On the St. George campus, VP of Human Resources and Equity Angela “Calamity Angie” Hildyard is the designated crisis manager; VPs and Principals Ian Orchard and Kwong-loi Shun will crack the whip in times of trouble at UTM and UTSC, respectively. The abstract of the policy says that U of T is “committed to limiting or containing the extent of damage incurred during a crisis, including making provisions for the safety and protection of research animals, University facilities, property, and grounds.”

The new plan calls for every university division to prepare an emergency plan of its own, and Hildyard noted that anyone who uses space on campus will be subject to the rules. “Failure to follow the directions of emergency personnel would result in appropriate disciplinary action,” a press release quoted Hildyard as saying.
-Graham F. Scott

U of T Computing and Networking Services Office: UTORmail may not suck much longer

U of T issued a press release on February 21 acknowledging that U of T’s largest campus email system, UTORmail, has a “spate of problems.” The Computing and Networking Services Office (CNS) staff, however, “think[s] it is close to fixing” these problems. CNS manager, Alex Nishri, was quoted as saying that fixing UTORmail was a top priority for the office.

UTORmail is groaning under 140,000 active email accounts, more than 600,000 emails inbound and outbound each day, and a terabyte of stored email (1,000 gigabyes, or roughly 1,500 recordable CDs).

UTORmail’s current sluggishness struck after U of T techies moved everyone’s email from one set of storage drives to another. Soon after, the network began gagging on the load of mail it was handling. IBM and Red Hat Software boffins have been working with CNS to solve the problem, the press release said, and they think they’ll have it soon, although, tellingly, Nishri’s only estimate of a deadline was a mixed metaphor. “We are not out of the woods yet, but we see light at the end of the tunnel.”

-Graham F. Scott