Most colleges do. When I was in college, we has a similar incident. The Bursar sent out an email to all students, one student reply-all's, and a deluge of messages followed. I thought it was pretty funny. After a day or two, the sysadmin shut of the listserv and reminded everyone of usenet-esque newsgroup that had existed for years but no one used.

Networks like these popup and are cool because they're underground of sorts. That makes them appealing and interesting.