A thread on Reddit's r/Temple community garnered more than 70 comments, with many responses lamenting the decision. — Image by freepik
Since Russell Bryant graduated from Temple University in 2014, he's been using his student email address. It's linked to his Amazon and Spotify accounts, and listed on resumes he sent to prospective employers.
In early December, Bryant received notice from his alma mater that his @temple.edu email account was going to be deactivated within weeks. The university would no longer allow graduates to keep their accounts for more than a year after graduation, and existing email accounts would be phased out by mid-May 2025.
Bryant sent emails to every tech support address he could find on Temple's website asking for an exemption. He got an extension allowing him to keep his account for a few more months.
"That's just delaying the inevitable," Bryant said. "So I decided to check out what avenues I have to keep it open."
He could think of only one option: sue the school for breach of contract.
Bryant, who is a real estate attorney in Montgomery County, filed a lawsuit against Temple in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Dec 5, accusing the university of breach of contract.
Temple's email policy promised that "graduates would have access to their '@temple.edu' email addresses for life," the complaint says. It cites a policy that said accounts would be available as long as the university had an alumni email program, which Temple continues to maintain for alumni in the first year after graduation.
Because of that policy, which was in effect when he graduated, Bryant used his account for a decade, the lawsuit says.
He is asking a judge to order the university keep his email account open.
"The whole reason I filed the lawsuit was because I use my Temple email address every single day," Bryant said.
Temple declined to comment because litigation is ongoing.
Temple will discontinue alumni access to email, Microsoft 365 services (such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), and OneDrive cloud storage a year after graduation. Starting Jan 6 and through May 7, the university is phasing out existing accounts of alumni.
The university explains the decision on its website, and offers ways for graduates to save their data.
"We have arrived at this difficult decision after a thorough review of cybersecurity risks, national higher education best practices and email usage rates," the university says on website with answers for alumni.
Under the question "What happened to email for life?" the university explains that the email policy, including alumni access, is subject to review and updates every two years.
Universities have promised "email for life," as a perk and a way to maintain an alumni community. But the tide turned in recent years, as other universities – including Ohio State University, Florida State University, and the University of Minnesota – announced an end to their generous alumni email programs.
And if Temple isn't alone among universities in backtracking from email for life, Bryant isn't alone among Temple grads in being upset by the change.
A thread on Reddit's r/Temple community garnered more than 70 comments, with many responses lamenting the decision.
"I've used mine since 2008. I have no idea where to begin," one person wrote on the site.
"I have all my Microsoft certifications linked to my (Temple) account," another wrote. "I spent a lot of time and money getting those bad boys."
Bryant, the Montco native who filed the lawsuit, said that as the first person in his family to graduate from college, he takes pride in the email address.
His status as a Temple graduate is a professional boon, Bryant said. Temple has a good reputation, for its academic programs and sport teams, so sending email from a temple.edu address is a signal to whomever he communicates with.
Without the account, he won't envision the recipient of his emails thinking: "Hey this is a guy that's educated, he went to Temple University." – The Philadelphia Inquirer/Tribune News Service
