Problems described in the letter include issues of software quality as well as of performance.
PeopleSoft, which is based in Pleasanton, Cal., says that it has responded to the letter and is arranging to meet personally with the signatories to discuss their concerns. The letter caps a difficult fall for the company, which has been battered by complaints about its student-administration systems from both large and small colleges and universities. The company's chief executive officer, David A. Duffield, offered a public apology for those and other problems at an August conference attended by thousands of PeopleSoft users. The institutions decided together to purchase the software in July 1997. Many of the problems stem from the sheer size of the universities involved, which jointly employ 35,000 faculty members and enroll over half a million students.