What if I asked you what it meant to be a Grizzly forever?

I think of our wonderful athletic teams, the camaraderie and close-knit atmosphere of Rochester, and the excellent academic opportunities from our world-class faculty.

But after hearing word that one year after graduation I would lose my Oakland University e-mail address, I was shocked and appalled.

Whatever happened to forever?

In 2003, the e-mail servers at Oakland were overhauled, as the growing student population had rendered the old server obsolete.

The last straw was in October 2002, as a total system failure caused the loss of all e-mail inboxes.

Technology had advanced a great deal to this point, and some portions of the system had not been touched for nearly 20 years, including some of the file structures. It was definitely time for an upgrade, and the state-appointed Board of Trustees voted for the overhaul in February 2003.

At that point in time, Michigan was still doing decent.

The financial crisis and subsequent perils of the auto industry had not happened yet. Unemployment was still low, and homes were selling.

Let’s fast forward to 2012. The economic climate has taken a severe downturn. Families are struggling to survive. While the auto industry survived, the housing market still took an abrupt hit and led to many foreclosures.

Students attend college to gain an advantage in the competitive global marketplace, but eliminating alumni e-mail addresses one year after graduation seems ludicrous, even with a much greater emphasis on saving dollars and cost-cutting.

I believe that these e-mail accounts are extremely important to our alumni because of the economic malaise Michigan is in.

The networks we create through our years of matriculation have never been needed more than right now.

Now while it is true that websites such as Yahoo! offer free e-mail accounts and it is possible to migrate important contacts, I always thought of my Oakland account as my main one. It was a sign that I had been accepted into a renowned university.

It was a sign that my dream of finishing my bachelor’s degree was about to come true.

I had made it.

That feeling was worth much more than twelve months. It felt like forever.

 

—-Contact contributing reporter Shawn Minnix via e-mail at [email protected]