On Jan. 15, McGill announced it would reduce the amount of Microsoft OneDrive cloud file storage space for each student from one terabyte (TB) of general storage—or 1,000 gigabytes (GB)—to 20 GB of general storage and 20 GB of Outlook email storage. The storage limit will come into effect on May 31, at which point students with over 20 GB of files or Outlook storage will be unable to store new files or send and receive emails, respectively, until their storage is reduced. The new limit will apply only to personal storage and will not affect collaborative storage spaces such as Sharepoint sites.
In their announcement of the reduction, McGill claimed that Microsoft changed storage limits in their licensing structure due to cybersecurity risks that come with storing large amounts of unused data in forgotten files. The university also stated that Microsoft implemented the changes to curb environmental concerns associated with the electricity usage of maintaining unnecessary files.
Steven Ding, assistant professor in McGill’s School of Information Studies, explained in an email to The Tribune that limiting “per-user space allowance” is a common industrial practice to prevent against cybersecurity threats.
“The provision of excessive storage space to users often creates a deceptive sense of security—leading to user neglect in properly inspecting, organizing, backing up, and managing the stored files, with a reliance instead on syncing everything quietly through the cloud,” Ding wrote. “Particularly for universities, which are common targets for cyber attacks, this unmonitored large storage capacity significantly expands their vulnerability.”
In an email to The Tribune, McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle explained that McGill chose to reduce OneDrive storage due to changes in Microsoft’s licensing structure, which limited the available storage at each licensing level. She explained that if the university had kept the same amount of storage, costs would have significantly increased, having a “financial impact” on the university.
Connor O’Keefe, U1 Science, is among the students with over 20 GB of files in OneDrive general storage. O’Keefe uses OneDrive to store lecture recordings as well as data for a McGill research group he is part of, and he questioned the financial motivation behind McGill’s decision.
“I think that citing environmental reasons and stuff doesn’t make a lot of sense. I mean, sure, but […] it’s clearly some measure to cut costs,” O’Keefe said in an interview with The Tribune. “[McGill] says it’s some change that OneDrive is using for their plan. But I have friends in other schools, and it doesn’t seem to be mirrored.”
In an interview with The Tribune, Inan Upadhyay, a second year master’s student in electrical engineering, explained that using OneDrive grants him greater flexibility because it allows him to access files across different devices, including the desktop computer that McGill issued him for research. He expressed disappointment with McGill’s decision and called the storage reduction “impractical.”
“Since I work in a lab environment, I store a lot of manuals, a lot of instructions,” Upadhyay said. “I’m pretty surprised to learn McGill is making this decision. Twenty GB of files is really nothing, as many software take that much amount of storage [to run].”
Mazerolle claimed that McGill’s decision reflects the administration’s research on OneDrive usage in the student population, that found that a 20 GB limit was adequate for 90 per cent of students. Mazerolle also wrote that McGill will provide additional storage for those who require it for academic activities by submitting a form, which will be available on the IT Support site.
“We acknowledge that some students will require more storage to accomplish their academic tasks, for example, those conducting academic research,” Mazerolle wrote. “Exceptions can be requested and will be considered/evaluated for students who justify the need for additional storage.”
For Oliver Fernie, a second-year master’s student in engineering, while the storage reduction may not impact a large percentage of students, it is still another financial burden.
“Cloud storage doesn’t cost much so it’s not […] a massive hit for students to replace it but it’s still annoying to have the convenience taken away for those who get good use out of it,” Fernie wrote to The Tribune. “We pay enough in tuition already and McGill certainly isn’t skint.”
