Recently, the Office of Alumni Relations upgraded the alumni e-mail accounts, offering more space, more services, and a new charge.
The service, started in 1999, was called “free e-mail for life.” In the past, many alumni have voiced complaints that their e-mail service was slow and unreliable. Fortunately, the service was improved and complaints have since subsided. But after finally providing a reliable e-mail system, Alumni Relations has announced its plans to charge alumni $14.95 each year for something that was previously promised to be free. Of course, many former students are angered by this broken promise.
Although graduates of an institution of RPI’s caliber will most likely have no problem coming up with the $14.95 per year to maintain their alum.rpi.edu e-mail address, those angered by the principle of the charge are far less likely to give donations when called each year.
The charge is being justified by providing enhanced services, including a larger 500 megabyte mailbox and POP3 access to it. Although upgrades such as these are good, users shouldn’t be forced into paying for them. A more acceptable plan would be to run the service like webmail, the online e-mail service available to current students. If current students wish to hold more than the free 10 megabyte limit, then they must pay a monthly fee.
In 1999, e-mail was not used as a primary means of communication as it is today, and it may have been difficult to foresee the future expenses such a program would require. However, the alumni association still has a responsibility to the alumni to keep their promise, and should consider alternatives to charging the alumni for this service.
