Email to President Monaco

Reply.markdown

Hi Earl,

President Monaco brought to my attention your question regarding email account expiration. This is good timing, as Tufts Technology Services, in partnership with the Schools, is currently discussing the merits of maintaining a tufts.edu email address beyond graduation for some of the reasons you mention.

Like many institutions, Tufts currently provides email forwarding for life through Alumni Relations. Graduates can register for an “@alumni.tufts.edu” account that provides an enduring email address that won't change over time (http://www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/TUF/permemail.html). This approach is in place based on earlier feedback and experience that suggests many individuals do not wish to manage a separate university email account after graduation, particularly as they acquire additional personal and work-related accounts.

While many find the email forwarding service to be valuable for managing Tufts’ contacts throughout one’s career, it does not address the issue you raise regarding using the “tufts.edu” account as a login/identity for external (non-Tufts) online services. This is among the issues we are discussing.

Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective. It is very helpful as we evaluate enhancements to Tufts' email services this year.

Thanks again,

-David

TuftsEmailRequest.markdown

Dear President Monaco,

As a recently graduated student, I want to first say thank you for helping shape Tufts over the last few years into an institution that I'm proud to be an alumni of. I didn't realize how much Tufts had become a home of mine until I left.

Second, I was hoping that you could urge ITS/UIT to make preserving email addresses for graduated student an institutional priority. As of my graduation, standard policy is to decommission email accounts approximately ~6 months after graduation. Having worked at the ITS help desk for two years in Eaton, I've heard the difficulties experienced by students who lose access to that email address.

The problems experienced are primarily:

A) Third party services, often infrequently used, use email as the primary identifying attribute. Losing Tufts email access means losing access to any web services that were registered with the Tufts email. Important services can be easily moved, but identifying every web service I've created an account on in the last four years is much more difficult.

B) Loss of professional contacts. I introduced myself in professional contexts using exclusively my Tufts email. Having every business card I've handed out over the last four years have an email that won't exist in 9 months is a huge loss.

It would mean a lot both to me, and I suspect the institution, to still be able to send and receive emails as a member of the Tufts community.

~Earl St Sauver