No one really likes junk mail.E-mail, snail mail, you name it; everyone hates having to sort through piles of useless crap that only serve to irritate the reader. Buy this now, sign up here now, call this number … it’s all the same, and it’s all ridiculous.

So why is TCU exacerbating the problem?

As reported by the Skiff two days ago, TCU administration provided student’s e-mail addresses to K Reed and Company, a Dallas-based merchandising firm responsible for the promotion of the new GrandMarc hall.

So basically, they coughed up our contact information to professional spammers.

In all fairness, it’s likely that the firm also does a lot of other work that doesn’t involve e-mail inundation, but in today’s age, marketing seems to be all about over exposure and online communication.

The project manager at the company, Julie Ratcliff, said that some of the given addresses belong to students who signed up for more information about the new apartments. That’s all well and good, but things should have stopped there.

Don Mills, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said he thinks “no harm was done because TCU is in a partnership with the GrandMarc.”

Honestly, that shouldn’t matter. If students didn’t express an interest in the new apartments, either by its Web site or office, it is not readily apparent why they should be dealing with one more point-and-click.

This may not seem like a big deal; it may even seem blown out of proportion. But how do we know that this action won’t prove to be a gateway towards other more aggressive, yet less useful, marketing partnerships? Are we saying if TCU finds a way to buddy up to say, Red Bull, then it’s still OK for administration to give away private information all willy-nilly?

Or maybe I’ll start spamming out to TCU all of my interests and plans. Oops, wait – someone already took care of that this month.

Sports editor Travis Stewart for the editorial board.