The mass e-mail sent out Wednesday telling students there had been syringes left on Brody Hall cafeteria trays was a serious breech of protocol that caused unnecessary alarm to the complex’s residents.

The message was sent to Brody Complex residents by its assistant manager, Denise Gerst, using her supervisor’s Pilot account. Complex manager Diane Barker, whose name appeared as the e-mail sender, was not in her office Wednesday and said she was unaware of the issue.

MSU spokesman Terry Denbow also said he was not informed about the problem nor was Chuck Gagliano, Housing and Food Services assistant vice president.

Gagliano saidWednesday that such an e-mail would be a violation of university policy because it was not sent by Barker herself. Only certain staff positions are authorized to send mass e-mails to students.

Thousands of Brody residents who received the e-mail were left wondering if their cafeteria was a hangout for heroine users or whether a diabetic might be leaving his or her syringes behind accidentally. What were residents to think?

Gerst, who thought it was necessary to send such an e-mail, should have gone through the proper channels. If she had done so, the e-mail might have been clear cut and told students if there was a problem or if it were just a diabetic who needed to be more conscious of were he or she disposed of trash.

The goal of the e-mail was probably not to start a mass panic, but it was so ambiguous that a lot of people didn’t know what was going on.

Perhaps, if the proper chain of command had been used for Wednesday’s situation, someone would have thought of other options than a mass e-mail to correct the problem. Nonetheless, a more proper e-mail should have been sent out.

We hope the food services will deal with this situation appropriately to prevent future misunderstandings between workers and mass communication procedures.