We strongly oppose the decision to end Brandeis email address for alumni:

1. Brandeis Pride: When we use @brandeis.edu for email or collaboration, we are spreading the Brandeis brand. We use our Brandeis email because we are proud to be Brandeis alumni. This is a worthy investment in communications and advertising for the university.
2. Utility: Many of us have used our Brandeis Google Workspace continually for decades. We use our Brandeis email to access academic and research tools, allowing us to pursue new projects with the help of Brandeis institutions. Moreover, ending Brandeis emails will result in lost contacts, lost emails, and lost documents. Our parents and grandparents who paid our Brandeis tuition (and who donate to Brandeis) know to reach us at @brandeis.edu and will be frustrated too.
3. Brandeis Memories: Using our Brandeis Google Workspace services to access old essays, emails, and pictures reminds us of great times at Brandeis. When we remember Brandeis fondly, we are more likely to support Brandeis in the future.
4. Status Quo: Competing universities allow students to keep their email address (Cornell [it.cornell.edu], Columbia [cuit.columbia.edu], NYU [nyu.edu], Boston University [bu.edu], University of Michigan [documentation.its.umich.edu]) or an affiliated address (Harvard, [thecrimson.com] MIT [alum.mit.edu], Stanford [alumni.stanford.edu], Yale [studenttechnology.yale.edu], Princeton [princeton.service-now.com], University of Pennsylvania [alumni.upenn.edu], Brown [ithelp.brown.edu], Babson [babson.edu], California Institute of Technology [alumni.caltech.edu]).  
5. Alumni Blindsided: Alumni were not surveyed, and communications with the Alumni Association and the student union indicate neither were consulted, showing a lack of concern for alumni and student needs. Additionally, according to IT Advisory Committee minutes [brandeis.app.box.com], the decision was made by “leadership” without involvement of Brandeis ITS.
6. “Truth Even Unto Its Innermost Parts”: In 1998, when Brandeis switched to U-Net and a simplified email format, Brandeis began charging a $160 technology fee. At the time and until last year (2023), the university explicitly promised that alumni email addresses would be available for life. The university is now breaking that promise. 

Our recommendation is that Brandeis reinstate Google Workspace services for alumni for life.

If Brandeis wants to eliminate inactive accounts: we propose Administrators systematically purge inactive accounts. All brandeis.edu accounts are already required to change their passwords every year; failure to update passwords could be criterion for removal. 

This proposal should also save at least 75% on costs. 

We hope that the university leadership will reconsider this decision, which will be a blow to Brandeis's reputation and relationship with its alumni. 

Sincerely, 

Alumni of Brandeis University and Future Alumni of Brandeis University