University To Launch Webmail for Alums

For those recent graduates pining for their old Harvard e-mail accounts, the University is piloting lifetime webmail service to ease the pain of cyber-separation.

The pilot program will supplement the existing “post.harvard.edu” accounts for members of the Class of 2003. Current post.harvard addresses—provided to all alums—forward e-mail messages to the recipient, but do not act as an actual electronic mailbox capable of receiving and storing messages.

Andrew K. Tiedemann, communications director for alumni affairs and development, said the new system will strengthen the online alumni community.

“I don’t have a crystal ball but my guess is that more and more alumni communication will take place through e-mail because it is more cost-efficient,” he said.

According to Tiedemann, the alumni affairs office will examine the successes and shortcomings of the program in a few years to determine whether or not to expand the service to all classes.

Web-based contact has typically been popular in the past. The “Harvard Monthly,” an online newsletter, has 140,000 subscribers from an alumni base of 319,000, according to Tiedemann.

Tiedemann will be working with Class of 2003 Secretaries Rudrabhishek Sahay ’03 and Lauren M. Jiggetts ’03 to send postcards about the new program to recent graduates. There will also be a notice concerning the e-mail accounts in the online newsletter.

Operation of the accounts will be outsourced to Publishing Concepts, a company based in Dallas, Texas.

The program is specifically designed to make it easier for recent graduates to maintain a Harvard account and not have to switch providers after graduation.

Students polled last night seemed to think a permanent Harvard account will be a good idea.

“It was bad enough when I had to switch e-mail addresses when I came here. I don’t want to have to switch back when I leave,” said Blase Ur ’07. “It’s good they thought of a way to avoid the hassle.”

Harvard is not the first college to implement a web-based e-mail account program for its alumni—Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, and other schools have had their respective programs for several years.

The permanent e-mail addresses will allow former students to attach themselves to the Harvard name—a benefit already enjoyed by the 90 percent of alumni who have a post.harvard account.

And not all alums are eager to take advantage of the new service. If the program does prove to be successful and is expanded to all classes, some remain uncomfortable with the idea of having their alma mater permanently plastered on their main form of communication.

“I am perfectly happy with my current set-up and don’t plan to change,” said Victor Friedman ’54. “I don’t see why you would want such an account other than to tell the whole world you went to Harvard every time you used your e-mail.”