Students and faculty rely on e-mail to stay in contact with peers and colleagues on a daily basis. Homework, grade inquiries and sensitive department memos all travel throughout the campus via e-mail. But they do not always hit their mark.

Rick Mickool, executive director of information services at Northeastern, acknowledged mix-ups do happen with e-mail addresses. He said, “assumptions are made” when students and faculty determine the addresses of new recipients.

And some mistakes can be more costly than others.

Dan Klotz, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Northeastern who taught an Introduction to Sociology course this summer, had his class reassigned to other professors after alleged electronic communication problems arose, according to the Office of the Provost.

“Concerns were raised regarding lines of communications [between Klotz and his students],” said Ann Comer, communications manager in the Office of the Provost.

The problems with Klotz’s e-mail started when another person of the same name, residing across the country, received notes directed to the Northeastern doctoral candidate.

In an e-mail obtained by The Northeastern News, the Dan Klotz not affiliated with the university claimed to be receiving university e-mails not intended for him.

“You Yankee idiots keep sending me shit for someone with the same name as me,” he said in an August correspondence with The News. He cited grade reports and homework extension requests among the messages he received in error.

He also claims to have sent fabricated responses posing as the NU Klotz in which he said, “[If students] couldn’t find their syllabus with the professor’s correct e-mail address, then with my freedom of speech I will send a bogus e-mail [in response].”

The NU Klotz, who declined to comment due to ongoing legal matters, had the user name “klotz_dan” at a popular e-mail provider. The disgruntled name-sake used the same provider, but with the user name “dan_klotz.”

Misdirected e-mails included ones sent by Associate Professor Anthony Jones, then acting chair of the sociology department.

Jones, who also refused comment, sent e-mails addressing Klotz’s final exam and his apparent dismissal from the university to the wrong address.

In an Aug. 9 letter intended for the NU Klotz and others, including now acting chair of the sociology department Professor Thomas Koenig, Jones said, “It would be best if you did not come to campus and did not have any contact with any of the students in the course until the situation has been resolved.”

The exact nature of the situation, as well as other misdirected e-mails, is currently unknown.

The Provost’s Office did not confirm or deny whether e-mail correspondence problems were the cause of the NU Klotz’s release.

Since the e-mail address in question was not campus affiliated, it is out of the hands of Information Services (IS), according to Vice President for IS Bob Weir. Although university staff accounts are not automatically given to graduate students, they can apply for one with a faculty sponsor, he said.

“If a [teacher’s assistant] wanted a non-student account, [a faculty member] can sponsor individual accounts for up to a year,” Weir said.

This would allow a graduate student like Klotz, if sponsored by a faculty member, to obtain a staff e-mail and be placed in the employee directory accessible from the university website.

As for the legal matters mentioned by the NU Klotz, details are unknown.

Lisa Sinclair, who handles campus legal issues with the university counsel, said it is university policy not to comment on personnel matters.

“Graduate students have teaching responsibility and are considered personnel,” she said.

In hopes of avoiding future e-mail problems, Comer and the Provost’s Office advises, “[Any student who has] concerns with the instructor, should talk with the instructor and then the chair of the department.”

Weir and the Information Services department remain confident in their current e-mail system, which has been in operation for four years.

“It is still easier to fill out a paper [such as a fax] with another name than to fake an e-mail,” Weir said.