They don’t simply work because each application needs to be explicitly whitelisted by the admin.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/exchange-web-services/how-to-control-access-to-ews-in-exchange

Same goes of course for graph.

Yes, there are plenty of technologies that would work for email, but those are all blocked by the MS tenant, except outlook, which is not released for Linux. Spoofing the From: field is probably not good practice either…

It’s good to see your perspective. I can’t help but think that you view things through your lens as faculty, and are a bit dismissive about the students point of view. For example, maybe you get all the relevant information about events in email, but maybe students don’t - it is true that student organizations frequently use a specific social media platform exclusively for certain communications, and if a good university message board existed, this could be different.

You also seem to dismiss OPs points about faculty involvement in developing university infrastructure. I completely understand that you don’t have the resources, it’s not in your job description, and it’s not a realistic expectation from you. That doesn’t mean there’s no place for discussion about what should or shouldn’t be in faculty’s job description. Same for “there’s no funding for this “.

I am faculty in a private medical school, and I don’t do undergraduate teaching, so my opinion about how the latter should be done in an ideal world is irrelevant. But I have to say, I agree with OPs sentiment that universities shouldn’t let their role as sanctuaries of independent thought slip away in the name of cost efficiency. I hate, for example, that my college only enables the use of Outlook through EWS as an email client, and Office 365 web as a web client. I do understand the need for cybersecurity and their desire to control access to company communications. But I use my college email in a ton of professional contexts that are my independent academic contributions, not college business. Peer reviewing, service in professional societies, letters of support for trainees, grant review for the federal government or nonprofits, contributions to books, etc. And I can’t have an email client on a Linux computer to read and write those emails? I hate it. But I also don’t want to be one of those who reply from a personal email to professional stuff.

I also can’t connect servers or vms that we host for my lab to the university network. If I want a server, it has to be fully managed by IT. There is only one network and it has hospital grade cybersecurity requirements, which I fully understand, but why can’t there be another network where labs can host their own databases, file servers, compute servers, and can connect their own PCs? I used to build pcs for dirt cheap for stuff like controlling instruments, now I have to buy from a short list of pre-defined configs from Dell or Apple, and have IT install Windows or Mac, add it to AD, and fully control everything on it. They do create an environment where trainees don’t even see that you can build and manage your own devices to meet your needs from a small budget and using free open source software. All they encounter is using their domain login to see a bloated Windows 11 desktop with stock market tickers and political news, and commercial software with proprietary algorithms and GUIs that hide what they do under the hood. They learn how to click around to get what they need, not to think about how the task should be done and what’s a good way to implement that.
Anyways, this is just one small aspect of university life but one that is not going in the right direction.

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