Although many Duke students are not aware of it, their contact information is readily available online with a few clicks of a mouse.
Since the start of the school year, however, contact information for students in the Class of 2012 has been lacking-if searched online, many students' name and e-mail are displayed, but not their the phone number.
Kathy Pfeiffer, assistant vice provost and director of Student Information Services and Systems, said she was not aware of the glitch. She added, however, that the office will be analyzing the problem and working on a solution.
"The fact that the freshman phone numbers were not transferred was a systems bug that we'll take care of immediately," she said.
Contact information-which includes the phone number, e-mail address and mailbox number-for all Duke students is available through both the University Web site, duke.edu, and the Office of Information Technology's Online Phonebook, unless a student requests that certain information remain private.
Students have always been given the right to have their directory information withheld, thanks to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, said Dean of Students Sue Wasiolesk.
She added, however, that the University is not required to make students aware of the service.
This past summer, due to a request from Kristin Pfeiffer, Trinity '08 and a former athletics and campus services senator for Duke Student Government, a system was implemented so students could go online and opt-out of having their phone numbers and e-mail addresses listed in the directory.
Sophomore Mike Lefevre, DSG vice president for athletics and campus services, said the new procedure is less hassling than the old system, in which students had to either delete their phone numbers from ACES or contact the Registrar's office to request their numbers be removed.
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