At the most recent Undergraduate Council of Students meeting, the council evaluated a new initiative that would provide alums with permanent Brown e-mail addresses even after graduation. Jake Heimark '11 conceived the idea and has since started working in collaboration with the Alumni Association, Computing and Information Services and the council's Admission and Student Services Committee. Other universities, including Harvard, already provide such addresses to their alums. This innovative project can only further integrate the Brown community and should provide significant advantages for both alums and undergraduates.
First, and most importantly, such a policy should strengthen our alumni network and reinforce graduates' connection to the University and fellow alums. While many graduates will presumably use other primary e-mail addresses — either personal or through their employer — the alumni e-mail address can provide a nice alternative for Brown-related e-mail content. Further, the alumni e-mail offers a stable and professional e-mail option for those in between jobs or out of work.
Many of us have more juvenile personal e-mail addresses than we might like to admit, and more than a few students have presumably been relieved to be able to use the Brown domain for fear of providing potential employers with this information. The Brown alumni e-mail tag will provide an authoritative and elegant address for those applying for jobs. Also on the employment front, an alumni address should provide graduates with even more of a leg up when applying to jobs with fellow Brown alums.
The initiative will also help undergraduate students interact with alums, particularly recent alums. Undergraduates and graduates often need to be in close communication regarding the continuation and transition of clubs and groups on campus. The alumni e-mail should also make it significantly easier for student groups to proposition graduates about lecture and speaking opportunities and help keep alumni informed about events on campus.
Additionally, a uniform alumni e-mail address system can make it easier for alums to reconnect with their former classmates on a social level. As presently addicted as many of us are to Facebook and the like, it is possible that adulthood might wean us off these social networking websites. As we hear our parents wistfully reminisce about college friends with whom they have lost contact, it is comforting to know that we can have a wide-ranging network to keep in touch with college friends. Lastly, the Alumni Association and the University administration should certainly love this initiative. The alumni e-mail system should provide another comprehensive and easy way to solicit donations from graduates.
Ultimately, as this project continues to progress, we will be intrigued to hear how it will develop. We hope that campus clubs and groups will be given permission to target particular alumni classes. We also hope that Brown can eventually develop an extensive directory to allow graduates to search for the individuals on this alumni e-mail network. For now, though, we are heartened at a new, inventive way to maintain a strong Brown community and support system for graduates leaving College Hill for the real world.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
