University of Wisconsin-Madison graduates will no longer be able to access their university email indefinitely, according to DoIT, the university’s information and technology office.
Previously, those who graduated or left UW-Madison were able to access their account in perpetuity.
However, recent changes to Microsoft’s education license led to access being revoked, and those graduating next May will meet a similar fate. Graduates will lose access to their Microsoft 365 data nine months after leaving the university, with periodic emails warning of the expiration date 90 days in advance.
Campus information and technology officials said the change is for security reasons. Former students do not have to use Duo to access their account, resulting in a potential security risk to university data.
According to DoIT, around 99% of compromised email accounts belong to former students. These accounts also require a considerable amount of costly storage.
Planning for this project began in February 2023, with DoIT deactivating the first batch of outdated accounts in June 2023. The email expiration process became the norm for graduates beginning with the Fall 2023 graduating class.
Some recent alumni said they were apprehensive about the decision.
Justin Broedlow, who graduated in August 2023, was one of the first to lose indefinite access.
Broedlow received an email in February 2023 notifying him that he would soon lose access to his account. “That's the email under my bank account,” he said. “ I have to change everything now, and it's kind of frustrating.”
Given this policy was implemented late into his time at UW-Madison, Broedlow assumed he would continue to have account access and used it on most of his resumes. Now, he said he’s concerned about losing connections he built with people from his UW-Madison email.
“Throughout my four years of college, I applied to hundreds of internships and made some contacts. [If] they would ever need to reach out to me again, they would only have [my UW-Madison email],” he said.
Broedlow said he was disappointed in how quickly DoIT revoked his access. “If they gave us a year or two, that works fine, but I graduated in August [and] my account closes in June,” Broedlow said.
Abby Frisinger, a December 2023 graduate, also said she was frustrated by the policy change.
“I dread the point where I can no longer access my [UW-Madison] email account,” Frisinger said. “I think a bit of my tuition could be allocated to preserving my email access for a couple years, until I am fully settled in a career where I am unlikely to require anything I hadn’t needed up until that point.”
Students concerned about email access after leaving UW-Madison can contact the DoIT Help Desk.
Bryna Goeking is an arts editor for The Daily Cardinal. She also reports on campus news. Follow her on twitter @BrynaGoeking.
