By Lexi Kayser
In the fall of 2018, Saint Louis University became one of the first universities in the United States to place personal assistants in student dorms and apartments. SLU, together with Amazon, formulated a new breed of the popular Alexa device: a variation of the Echo Dot equipped with an Ask SLU program, which could answer more than 100 questions about specific university operations. Over 2,300 devices were deployed during that first operational year, and according to SLU’s official website, students interacted with them over 150,000 times.
Over time, though, students’ questions toward the devices have become far more pessimistic than, “When is Grand Dining Hall open today?” In fact, students do not seem to be asking questions of the devices at all; rather, among one another, they question the relevance of the Alexas themselves.
In a recent, anonymous survey of 600 undergraduate SLU students, only 24 students— four percent—said they had ever used the university-provided Echo Dots. Only one of those students replied that they used the device frequently, with the other 23 saying they only used it sometimes.
Of the 576 students who never use the Echo Dots, only seven percent say they have left them plugged in. The rest claim to have unplugged them and banished them to a drawer, cabinet or corner.
“I do not know anyone who used the Alexa provided in their dorms from the university, which makes the purchase a waste of resources in my opinion”
McTigue’s reluctance is the norm among students. It is difficult to say exactly what caused this shift in public perception; SLU’s early reflections on the topic seemed to cite smashing success. However, four years after the original Echo Dots were turned on, it is clear that an increasing number of students are turning them off.
Some students’ qualms are directed toward SLU’s Wi-Fi rather than the Alexas themselves. In order to operate the devices, students must connect them to the university’s private network: a process which many say is tedious. In the typical double dorm room, there are two laptops and two cell phones (along with the occasional tablet, e-reader, TV or gaming console) fighting for a hold in the network. According to the tech blog Lifewire, the more devices connected to a Wi-Fi network, the slower it tends to run—and most college networks are supporting thousands of devices at any given time.
Similarly, Echo Dots have to be plugged into a wall outlet to function. Since the average dorm room is already cramped, outlets are hard to come by, making the Echo Dots a leech of yet another precious resource.
Students who do use the Echo Dots on a regular basis still are not fond of their features. Many wish they could connect to personal accounts to play music, and say the voice commands offered are not useful. They prefer to use the artificial intelligences in their smartphones, like Apple’s Siri, which is more easily personalized.
Andrea Porter, a senior who lived on campus during the first two years of the Echo Dots’ launch, was initially excited to use her Alexa—but said the device ultimately fell short of her expectations.
“I honestly thought it was cool that the dorms were going to have the Amazon Alexas. At home, we have one in every room and we mainly use it to listen to music or ask questions if we don’t have our phones on us at the moment,” Porter said. “I was intrigued when SLU sent out an email telling us that they were going to be in our dorms.”
According to a 2019 Saint Louis University (SLU) news release, each SLU room and apartment was outfitted with an Echo Dot smart device (above) that was programmed with the ability to answer more than 300 questions specific to SLU and its campus experience. Photo courtesy of Saint Louis University.
But Porter’s excitement was short-lived when she realized the devices had fewer capabilities than her Alexas back home. Her hopes dropped further when she heard other students expressing their disdain.
“There were a lot of opinions being formed by students about the Amazon Alexas, such as, ‘It’s SLU trying to spy on us,’ and other stuff along those lines,” said Porter. “I didn’t think that’s what they were doing but it did affect me using the Alexa. The negative stuff that was being said made me not want to use it. I did it solely to listen to music if my roommates weren’t in the room with me, but that was the only time I used it.”
The “spy theory” referenced by Porter is one of the most common reasons why SLU students are hesitant to use their Alexas—or even leave them plugged in. Surveyed students were overwhelmingly wary that the devices were listening in on their private conversations. Several students explicitly called them “creepy.” One attempted to deactivate it in a dormitory toilet.
Campus lore about SLU using Alexas to spy on their students worsened in the fall of 2021. After months off-campus for the pandemic, students returned to find that only some rooms were equipped with the devices. A resident advisor in Marchetti Towers said she was ordered to remove them from her residents’ rooms prior to move-in— though, she was never told why. Students speculated that the Alexas were strategically left in certain rooms to listen in on particular people.
Jeremy Schierhoff, SLU’s associate director for Housing Operations, provided a far less ominous explanation for the Alexas’ “mysterious” disappearances.
“Prior to COVID, we would put them all in the rooms in the beginning of the year, before the students return. And at the end of the year, we’d pull them, because we have summer conferences and we didn’t want all that inventory sitting out because it’s a lot of money,” Schierhoff said.
When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, SLU extended spring break before moving classes fully online. Students returned to campus to pick up their things, and in their haste, some parents accidentally packed the Echo Dots. SLU spent months tracking them down, recollecting them via mail and inventorying them. This, said Schierhoff, was the reason some rooms did not have Alexas during 2021’s fall move-in.
SLU is aware that not all students are happy about the Echo Dots, but maintains that many of their fears are unfounded. The Ask SLU Software— a variation of Alexa for Business—does not have the capability to listen to or record conversations. Alexa for Business’ website confirms, “the organization has no access to the information it receives about how they use a personal device, outside of when they interact with corporate skills. The organization may receive engagement metrics (device and skill usage metrics) for shared devices. In either case, the organization has no access to any voice recordings.”
Moving forward, Schierhoff says SLU is considering allowing students to choose whether or not their room is equipped with an Amazon Alexa. The future success of the program will likely depend on the university’s willingness to adapt to student feedback, providing the features students want to see.
“[In the fall of 2022,] we would like to have them available upon request,” said Schierhoff. “We’re looking forward to getting it going again and seeing if there’s any improved ability with them. Technology moves fast. We’ll be working with [SLU Information Technology Services] to support the initiative.”
Lexi Kayser is a recent graduate of Saint Louis University, where she received degrees in English and Communication.
The featured cover photo (above) is courtesy of Saint Louis University.