my.full.name@fas??

Each student has his or her own assigned e-mail address, but not all usernames are created equal. The Undergraduate Council (UC) wants students to be able to choose their own e-mail alias, rather than having to choose from a small number of (often unpalatable) alternatives.

“It was actually something Ryan and I had in our platform when we ran this year,” says UC Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09. He described the proposal as a “quiet issue” that would nonetheless significantly improve students’ everyday lives.

Sundquist began by contacting several Asian-American groups to ask for their support, and Asian-American Association (AAA) Co-President Ren “Jimmy” Zhao ’08 confirmed that his organization will support the UC proposal. Zhao was given the e-mail address “Zhao2@fas,” and the freshman class alone boasts aliases Zhang32, Zhang34, and Zhang39.

It seems that getting a great alias is all about timing. Take Christopher T. Chen ’10, for example, who miraculously claimed “Chen@fas.” But cases like his are few and far between, and some addresses end up as slightly embarrassing. Margaret M. Wang ’09 chose “Mmwang.” Wang insists she meant it to be a joke.

When asked what their ideal e-mail aliases would be, both Zhao (2) and (mm)Wang said they would have used their full names. “Each name is going to be more unique and more memorable than numbers,” said Wang.

According to Sundquist, the measure could conceivably be implemented soon enough to benefit the Class of 2011. “The faculty and administration already have this option, so it would not be hard to do,” says Sundquist.

Until then? There’s always Gmail.