By Graham Cook

Emails insinuated that the people had been accepted into SFU, and suggested on-campus housing

A number of prospective SFU students were accidentally sent emails that led them to believe that they had been accepted into the university when it was not necessarily the case.
SFU residence staff apparently sent out the emails early last Tuesday. The message began with the text, “Dear [student’s name], we hear that you have been accepted to Simon Fraser University. Congratulations!” From there, it informed the student, “Now the fun begins from thinking about courses you want to take to figuring out where you want to live,” before presenting the option of living on campus. The message ended with an alert that there was no residence application on file for the recipient, warning them not to delay or miss out followed by a link to apply online.
SFU used their official Facebook account to respond to the issue, updating its status to read, “Earlier [Tuesday] some people received an email from SFU Residence indicating they’ve been accepted to Simon Fraser University. Please be advised the email may have been sent in error. SFU Residence staff is looking into this and will have more information to report tomorrow. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.” No report was ever published on the official SFU website and no further information on the issue was posted on the Facebook page.
However, not all people accepted the official response. One Facebook commenter remarked, “It’s not a computer mistake, it’s merely a smart advertising move by your Department of Business, at least telling by all the social media posts about this! That’s a nicer way to play it off!”
Though The Peak could not reach university administration at the time of publishing, SFU registrar Kate Ross told The Vancouver Sun, “[The email] actually was encouraging them to apply for residence, and had indicated, by being congratulatory . . . that they had been admitted, and unfortunately it went to some people that it should not have gone to.” She added that she did not know how many emails had been sent out but that the mistake involved the use of email listservs.
Those who received the unintended email were sent a follow-up message shortly after which explained the mix-up. At the time of printing there was no sign from the university as far as who was to blame or if the accident caused any serious problems for those involved.