On Thursday, Director of Strategic Procurement John Storti sent an email to the student body announcing that the University is partnering with Xerox Corporation beginning June 1 to improve Mail Services, the Copy Center and printing services on campus.

The changes to the mailroom, he wrote, would include email or text message notifications instead of the paper slips that are currently used to inform students that they have packages, mail automation "which will result in earlier and more accurate and on-time mail delivery service" and a postal kiosk where students will be able to purchase postage 24 hours a day.

In his email, he also informed students that the Copy Center will be improved with new production equipment. The center will also do in-house print work for "a quick turnaround and competitive pricing."

The final change announced in Storti's email involved updates to current printing abilities on campus. He wrote that there will be Cloud printing, allowing students to print to any device on the network. There will also be new printing devices around campus that will be available to students to scan, copy and print their work.

Storti wrote that these changes are being implemented "in order to ensure that all faculty, staff and students of Brandeis University are provided with the best services and products used every day at the best possible negotiated price and service level."

In an interview with the Justice, Josh Motta, the meter clerk in the mailroom, said that he felt that Brandeis is going for more of a "corporate system that will help technologically" but that it will reduce the personal interaction and the valuable relationship between students and mailroom staff who have been working there for years.

Motta said that he has been working in the University's mailroom for 17 years, and is also concerned that the new contract could bring about staffing changes in the mailroom. He said he was unsure if the transition would be like that of Aramark to Sodexo, during which Sodexo allowed all staff members to keep their jobs and simply be retrained, or if there might be a possibility that people who have worked in the mailroom for years could lose their jobs.

Storti did not respond to questions regarding these concerns by press time.

-Hannah Wulkan