Every student enrolled at the University is assigned a NetID that essentially becomes how that student is identified. With the NetID comes an assigned illinois.edu email address, used by professors to communicate with students as well as some of the top administrators who use the University mass campus email to send messages throughout the University.
Six months after graduation, the account is all gone. The University email account is deactivated, and the NetID no longer is of any use, but Illinois student senator Jim Maskeri is heading the committee that wants to change this.
The proposal, called Email for Life, could keep people connected to the University even after they graduate by allowing students to keep their email address ending in illinois.edu or have any mail sent to the account forwarded to another email address. Keeping that email address has its advantages for both graduates and students enrolled in the University.
“People form connections, they form bonds within the university setting,” Maskeri said. “Losing that connection or link that the email address provides I think is difficult for some students who graduate. It’s difficult for them to reach back out to their friends and their professors that they have really fostered a relationship with in their years on campus.
“If the university were to provide a database of contact information for people who’ve graduated just to make sure that we have that ability to reach out and contact those people.”
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The Illinois Student Senate approved a resolution in November, 2011, asking the office of the Chief Information Officer Paul Hixson to get more information on the subject.
The idea of Email for Life first came about in 2006, but Maskeri said the University officials never provided more information on it then, and he doesn’t want the same thing to happen this time. Maskeri said when he spoke to Paul Hixson, interim chief information officer, two weeks ago, he was told the University still plans on looking into proposals this summer.
“The evaluation is definitely going to happen because it does have the backing of high campus officials,” Maskeri said. “We just think it’s a great idea so we’re very happy that it’s going to start moving forward.”
Maskeri hopes that by the beginning of the school year, the Illinois Student Senate will have an official proposal to take a stance and vote on.
