Student Union
Zoom Suffers Worldwide Outages
Videoconferencing platform Zoom experienced worldwide outages Monday morning, coinciding with the first day of remote classes for many schools and universities.
On its status page, Zoom reported partial outages for its website, meetings and webinars. By Monday afternoon, all systems were reported as operational.
Downdetector recorded a spike in issue reports, mostly from North America and western Europe, which peaked at nearly 17,000 complaints at 9 a.m. EST.
Lighter areas on Downdetector’s map Monday morning also showed complaints in China, India, Mexico and other countries, although most had faded by the afternoon.
The company’s Twitter mentions were flooded with concerned and panicked users, including professors and students.
“Please fix the system — we depend on your availability,” wrote Janine M. Ziermann, an assistant professor at Howard University’s College of Medicine in Washington.
“Half of my student's [sic] don't get emails due to server failure ... Zoom seems down ... my lecture starts in 43 minutes,” she wrote, alongside an animated image from TV show The Big Bang Theory of a character hyperventilating into a paper bag.
Half of my student's don't get emails due to server failure ... Zoom seems down ...
— Janine M. Ziermann, PhD (@JMZiermann) August 24, 2020
my lecture starts in 43 minutes pic.twitter.com/OY2sPRyx5g
“My laptop is buzzing, phone melting down,” wrote Florida State University professor Mark Zeigler. “I would cry, but I decided to laugh and have a cup of tea.”
So ZOOM is out campus wide. My laptop is buzzing, phone melting down....I would cry, but I decided to laugh and have a cup of tea.
— Mark Zeigler (@fsuzeigler) August 24, 2020
Students were quick to make jokes on the widespread outages.
“And like clockwork both Zoom and Canvas crash the first morning back to school,” wrote Lauren Gruber, a graduate student at Indiana University, alongside an image of a flaming Elmo figure. The meme is used to denote chaotic situations. “You really, really can’t make this stuff up.”
And like clockwork both Zoom and Canvas crash the first morning back to school. You really, really can’t make this stuff up. pic.twitter.com/u3SCCjIliZ
— Lauren Gruber (@GrubersOrch) August 24, 2020
Canvas is a program that supports online learning by allowing users to submit homework assignments and view their grades.
Zoom announced it was investigating the problems at 8:51 a.m. EST and said by 11:30 a.m. it had rolled out a fix for most users.
“Everything should be working properly now!” the company tweeted, offering its “sincere apologies” to customers.
Everything should be working properly now! We are continuing to monitor the situation. Thank you all for your patience and our sincere apologies for disrupting your day.
— Zoom (@zoom_us) August 24, 2020
Users in California, Mexico and elsewhere replied saying they were still experiencing issues. Others, seemingly students, jokingly asked Zoom to shut down again.
Billionaire businessman Eric Yuan started Zoom in 2011, originally under the name Saasbee. By the end of its first month, the California-based company had more than 400,000 users, and by 2017 was valued at $1 billion. The company remained little known outside its base of mostly business users, but when the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, Zoom saw its usage rates surge.
Schools, universities and other organizations took their operations to Zoom, kicking off heightened scrutiny of the software’s security and privacy features, and connections to China.
In June, the company acknowledged temporarily closing three accounts belonging to U.S.-based Chinese activists after they held a Zoom event to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Axios reported.
Zoom has also been plagued by reports of unwanted guests intruding on video meetings, an event so common it has its own name: Zoom-bombing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a press release in March warning the public of the practice after two schools said their online classes were hacked.
The widespread crashes Monday morning underscored the problems of online learning, even as schools kick off another year.
See all News Updates of the Day
Harvard recommends gap year as a strategic move
While some students and parents see the gap year as a waste of time, others see the break in academic studies as valuable for developing maturity, earning money or focusing goals.
MSN.com explains some of the reasons why Harvard – and other prestigious schools in the United States – are recommending that students take a gap year. (December 2024)
Student dilemma: Financial aid applications can expose undocumented parents
Many students in the U.S. rely on financial aid to attend colleges and universities, but as Julia Barajas reports in LAist.com, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid could cause a dilemma for students with an undocumented parent.
If students fill out the application, they will share their parents’ financial information – and potentially raise questions about their immigration status -- with the federal government. If they don’t fill out the application, they won’t get federal financial aid. (December 2024)
FDA: College students using ‘honey packets’ to enhance sex put themselves at risk
With TikTok videos promoting “honey packets,” the supplements marketed as sexual enhancements have become popular on college campuses.
But as Charles Trepany reports in USA Today, the Food and Drug Administration has warned that ingredients in the supplements could be potentially dangerous. (November 2024)
Some universities encourage Chinese students to return before inauguration
Some colleges and universities are encouraging international students to return to the United States – or stay in the country over winter break – to make sure any White House travel restrictions don’t impede their return, the South China Morning Post reports.
Chinese students in the United States have expressed concerns about being allowed back in the country after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Trump has promised sweeping immigration reforms and mass deportations. (December 2024)
Seven charged in social media drug ring at Rutgers University
An undercover narcotics investigation at Rutgers University in New Jersey led to the arrest of seven people, NBC News reported.
Investigators say they found large amounts of marijuana, LSD, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, Adderall and Xanax. The drugs were offered on a menu circulated on a private social network of individuals affiliated with school, authorities said. (December 2024)
