Accidental e-mail congratulates 7,000 on admission to UC Berkeley law school:
Edward Tom, director of admissions at the University of California, Berkeley, law school, was training a new office worker last week when it happened.
Tom was demonstrating the e-mail software used by the school and was highlighting several features, including how the user can filter mail and set it to send messages to one recipient or many at the same time.
That’s when he chose what happened to be a standard congratulatory message on being admitted to the university’s prestigious law school and accidentally sent it to all 7,000 students who have applied for admission to the law school. The problem, which the school quickly admitted, is that all of the applicants won’t be admitted. In fact, there’s only room for 800 to 850 of them.
Ruh Oh! Tom is the big cheese and not the one who normally demonstrates the software to new workers which accounts for most of the problem. However, he immediately (and apparently successfully) sent out an apology to everyone.
Tom said that about 10 applicants who received the errant e-mail informed him that were very distraught after learning that it was a mistake. About 90 others sent notes to him offering their understanding and accepting his apology.
Seeing as they are budding lawyers, when do you think the first lawsuit will be filed?
