In August, the University of Colorado Boulder will discontinue the program that allows alumni to retain their CU email addresses for life, after offering the program since 2005. CU Boulder alumni will lose access to their CU email accounts effective Aug. 31. CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Cousins sa id the main reason the university has decided to cancel the program is to protect its digital infrastructure from cybersecurity threats such as viruses, phishing and hackers. “The more access points that we have to the colorado.edu domain, the more at risk the university is of its digital infrastructure being compromised,” Cousins said. “And, given that there’s a low user rate of colorado.edu alumni engagement occurring, it just doesn’t justify the cost for us to continue offering that program when we’re really trying to ensure the safety and security of our digital infrastructure for our students, faculty and staff.” About 140,000 CU Boulder alumni have colorado.edu email addresses, and 16% of those users, or about 22,400 alumni, have logged into their email in the last year.. If the university pursued increased security measures, such as two-factor authentication, it would increase costs tenfold or more, Cousins said. CU Boulder currently pays roughly $70,000 annually for alumni to have access to email. Robert Youshock, who graduated from CU Boulder in 2021, said he’s disappointed by the university’s decision to discontinue the email program. He graduated in media production and has an online website and portfolio that links to past CU Boulder projects, which in turn link to his CU Boulder email address. “It’s another hassle and confusion and feels like another disconnect and kick as an alumni,” Youshock said. The university recognizes that for some alumni, this is a really big shift, Cousins said. She added that the campus has been considering alternative options for a couple of years. “In 2005, we made a promise. We called it email for life,” Cousins said. “We did not know what serious cybersecurity risks today’s digital environment would bring, and if we knew what we know now, we probably wouldn’t have called it email for life.” The decision to end the alumni email program is specific to the CU Boulder campus. The Colorado Springs campus, the Anschutz medical campus and the Denver campus all continue to allow alumni to access their CU email accounts, according to their websites.Related Articles Shrinking Arapaho Glacier tied to Boulder’s history: ‘Sad to see it go’ Protesters demand CU Regents cut ties with Key Lime Air over ICE detainee flights As Colorado’s wildfire threat grows, Douglas County turns to biochar as ‘next level’ mitigation tool Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai to headline CU’s Conference on World Affairs CU regents elect Republican chair amid Democratic opposition CU Denver has a similar email for life program as CU Boulder, and the campus confirmed it has no current plans to discontinue the program. UCCS spokesperson Jenna Press said as of right now, UCCS alumni get to keep their CU email addresses, but the campus may look at changing that at some point in the future. For more information, visit oit.colorado.edu/about-oit/projects/alumni-email. Subscribe to our new newsletter to get CU Boulder’s latest news sent straight to your inbox. ...read more read less