Dear Editor,

I recently discovered through social media that my Brandeis email would be deactivated the following day. I was deeply concerned and frustrated that I was not properly informed of this change, especially given the critical role email plays in our lives today. Access to many essential web accounts, such as banking and healthcare, often requires codes sent to email. Without notice, I was at risk of being locked out of accounts tied to my Brandeis email address, as well as losing contact with friends and colleagues. This is particularly troubling, considering that alumni were promised lifetime email forwarding.

After emailing Alumni Relations, they acknowledged that I had not been notified and granted me a one-month extension to transfer data, update accounts tied to my Brandeis email, and inform others of my new address. I encouraged them to notify others in my situation.

In their response, I learned that emails regarding this change were sent last April to a mailing list composed of the email addresses Alumni Relations had for us when we graduated. However, these notifications were not sent to our Brandeis email addresses. In my case, I did not receive the email because I had unsubscribed from the alumni mailing list years ago.

Given the importance of this matter, I believe such notifications should have been sent to both our Brandeis email addresses and via regular postal mail to ensure everyone was properly informed. This would have allowed adequate time to complete the tedious and time consuming task of identifying all accounts tied to our Brandeis emails and updating them. For example, I’ve already had to contact customer service for several of my accounts to switch to a new email address—and I’ve only updated a fraction of my accounts.

While I understand that Brandeis is facing financial challenges, email forwarding is a minimal cost. More importantly, the lack of adequate communication about such an essential change is unacceptable. An email address is akin to a home address—changing it without notice can lead to significant disruptions. As it stands, I have just two more weeks to update hundreds of accounts. When I started this process, my password manager said I had 791 different logins, though I assume some are duplicates or defunct.

I was lucky to discover this issue on social media and to receive a one-month extension. However, in my experience with other organizations, even after unsubscribing from email lists, I still receive critical communications such as account deactivation notices or updates to terms of service and I’m disappointed that Brandeis did not handle this properly.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Blacker

B.A. Computer Science, 2009