When we first reported that Yale was poised to adopt Google Apps, the development seemed like a big win for Google.  The situation’s now looking a bit different, though, as the prestigious university has postponed its school-wide switch to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other products from Mountain View.

David Tidmarsh of the Yale Daily News reported today, "After a series of meetings with faculty and administrators in February, ITS officials decided to put the move on hold, Deputy Provost for Science and Technology Steven Girvin said."

Apparently there were some concerns about how easy implementation would (or wouldn’t) be, which is one perception problem Google would like to overcome.

Then here’s a rather more serious issue Google has to address: Tidmarsh wrote, "Deputy Provost Charles Long said last Wednesday that he did not know about the committee’s decision but noted that several faculty members had concerns about communications security under the proposed Google system."

So this situation is becoming a public relations headache, rather than a PR win, for the search giant.  Yale’s reputation is good enough that many other organizations could follow its lead.