Excerpt from the Spring 2025 Extension
EDITOR’S NOTE: Recently the WSU Retirees Association board was notified that wright.edu retiree and emeritus email accounts would be shut down this fall. Here is a sampling of the responses we received from retirees on Facebook and in a group email regarding the decision.
From Facebook:
- Quite honestly, I’m surprised there isn’t more of an uproar over this. If we’re the only people who care there’s no hope for a better solution. I’d be perfectly happy if they could just forward my existing email address to Gmail or yahoo or …. Yes, it would mean some upfront work for CaTS and I know they’re already swamped but I would think a happy retiree base would be worth something.
- When I heard a while back WSU was planning to do this, I expressed my opinion. I can understand some of the argument about security. But as someone who spent 40 years in CaTS, I know there are plenty of ways that this could be done without just discontinuing the accounts.
- I think it’s shortsighted. And like others have said you guys send my request for donations through my Wright State account. I’ll let you work to figure out what my new email address is. Always A Raider.
- I’ve discussed this with a couple of other CaTS retirees and I’m not really sure what the security concerns are. Have we had security issues in the past that were associated with email? And surely the risk of hosting students is greater than the risk of hosting retirees.
- This is sad.
- WSU is going downhill at an alarming speed! So sad to see.
- I have truly enjoyed and been proud to have my email account from WSU. I agree that donations will go down because it’s been easy to keep WSU on our minds with using our email accounts.
- It’s interesting that alumni don’t pose the same threat as retiree and emeriti individuals.
- This should really boost future donations from retirees. Just send the request to my WSU email.
From group email:
- I was assured that when I retired after 35 years, my e-mail would persist.
- When I called CaTS on Monday, I was told they’re negotiating with HR about emeritus faculty emails and that we might get subsequent email, but they didn’t know what was going to happen.
- Should continued scholarly activity be the sole criterion for retaining an emeritus WSU email address? That seems unreasonable and unrealistic to me. Two years ago, I was asked to recommend a WSU student for a graduate program. I did and she is doing well. I could be wrong, but I don’t think my recommendation for her would have had much cachet if I had I identified myself instead as john.doe@gmail.com
- I have always been so proud to give my Wright State email address and make sure that everyone knows it’s “Wright” like the Wright brothers in Dayton, Ohio.
- One of my biggest concerns is my archived email. I have health records, financial records, travel records, family correspondence, and electronic purchases that I have saved for future reference.
- I am a member of the WSU Robert S. Oelman Heritage Giving Society. Come November 2025, when CaTS drops my email account, I will move my giving plans to other universities where I have learned and worked. In sum, the @wright.edu decision is “penny wise, and pound foolish.”
- Published papers always list the author(s), their affiliation and email address. This is how any reader can reach me with questions or comments, even on material published years ago. By losing my WSU email account I would also be losing unknown future correspondents.
- At the least, the University should consider grandfathering in those of us who are already retired.
See also: