Inspired by the “infinite scroll” algorithms of social media sites like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, President of the College Elizabeth Bradley announced plans on Tuesday to release a new “endless” version of the Sunday email starting next week.
According to the President, the change follows consistent feedback from Vassar students. Speaking to The Miscellany News, she said, “Every week I hear from students who love my Sunday emails, but wish they didn’t end so soon. This is a very serious issue, which is why we acted promptly to make this much-needed change.”
The emails will provide algorithmically-selected information about events, organizations, jobs and other happenings on Vassar’s campus. Created with the help of students and faculty in the Computer Science department, the algorithm will analyze individual interests to provide a personalized Sunday email experience for every student.
“Ultimately,” Bradley continued, “we believe that this change brings us closer to the values and vision with which the college was founded. As Matthew Vassar once said, ‘No student should ever feel deprived of relevant, bite-sized content delivered directly to their inbox every Sunday.’”
After the announcement, some questioned whether enough actually happened at Vassar to compose a truly endless scroll. In response, Bradley noted that several popular existing email segments, including “Mystery Photo” and “Quote of the Week,” would be receiving spin-offs in the newly expanded Sunday email.
“Something students tell me a lot is that they relish the opportunity to answer questions about a blurry, cropped image of a beloved piece of our campus,” she said. “We wanted to take that idea and expand on it, which is why I’m excited to announce the creation of ‘Which Professor’s Toes Are Those?’ and ‘How Long Has This Deece Fry Been Sitting There?’”Likewise, the much-loved “Quote of the Week” segment is getting an upgrade.
“Until now, we’ve really only done these little snippets, a sentence or two at most,” President Bradley said. “With the new format, we’ll be able to include as much of the text as we want in order to really expose Vassar students to great works of poetry and literature.
“Next week’s Quote of the Week will be ‘Moby Dick.’”