The Student Who Emailed the Entire University

Phones were buzzing nonstop. Emails flooded in every second. Memes, Spotify links, event promos, random arguments, and people desperately begging others to “STOP REPLYING ALL” completely took over everyone’s inboxes (because they were still sleeping). Somehow, the entire university had accidentally become one giant group chat.

And at the centre of it all was Benjiman Law. So of course, I had to interview the man responsible for what might be one of the funniest moments in recent UoA history.

Benjimin explained that he had spotted the “all students” Google Group and noticed the permissions seemed open. Thinking the email probably wouldn’t go through, he tested it anyway by writing an email wiith the subject as "text".

It definitely went through. “I realised almost instantly when the replies started flooding in,” he said. “My first reaction was just: ‘Oh crap.’” While the rest of the university watched the chaos unfold, Benjiman was already calling the university switchboard and IT trying to stop it. Meanwhile, students fully embraced the madness.

Some were furious about their inboxes exploding, while others treated it like the funniest thing ever. There were cow memes, duck pictures, music playlists, Instagram group chats, and even people organising campus meetups through the email thread.

At one point, Benjiman said over 1,100 emails were downloading into his inbox. Despite all the panic, Benjimin said the best part was seeing students connect with each other online.

“It was kind of like a little micro community for two hours,” he said. The university has since contacted Benjiman and asked him to attend a meeting with the student conduct office after he formally apologised for the disruption. Safe to say, it’s probably been one of the most stressful and funniest weeks of his life. Still, for one chaotic morning, the entire University of Auckland student body was united by one thing: The world’s first university somewhat groupchat? (maybe) Screenshots of emails: