"Students don't send resumes anymore," says Gillis. "Professors don't mail manuscripts or research reports. They all fax."
But even the most miraculous of new technologies brings with it some problems. Fax-addicts claim that with a fax, you can be sure that your document has been received. But some users complain that, like dirty laundry, faxes can pile up.
Although a confirmation slip informs senders that their document has been spit out of another fax, they have no way of knowing their messages haven't been stacked in ever-growing piles of thermal paper--or simply thrown out.
"People are becoming as cavalier about junk fax mail as they are about junk mail at home," says Gillis. "How many letters do you throw away?"
As faxed advertisements from local stores and restaurants begin to proliferate, Gillis says, fax owners may quickly learn to ignore the majority of incoming messages.
"It's not a problem yet," she says, "but it could become one."
Harvard fax machines are intended strictly for official business use, Gillis says. Occasionally, however, University personnel have been known to stretch that rule.
Gillis says she has used the OIT fax to send recipes to her mother, for example.
And one employee at Leo's Place, a restaurant on John F. Kennedy St., claims that at dinner time, fax orders regularly come in on Harvard stationary.
"It's not small orders," he adds.
Broadway Supermarket plans to solicit business from fax-owners on campus because they a large potential for business,"
Gillis, however, denied that Harvard affiliates are committing fax abuse in the city's deli departments.
"Professors send correspondences and students send resumes," said Gillis. "But no one orders out for a Reuben sandwich."
The Style page, a new regular feature of The Crimson, is intended to provide helpful social commentary on the troubled times we live in. With any luck, the page will feature The Crimson's usual agressive reporting and incisive writing, augmented by brilliant editing and innovative layout. Or something like that.
The Style Page will run on page three on alternate Mondays. Keep an eye out for future installments.