CCR HT Week 7 2026 Motions

University Email Preservation Motion

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The motion mandates the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee for the permanent preservation of students’ university emails, or to allow alumni to set up forwarding from their old university address to an Oxford alumni address.

Proposal:

The motion mandates the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee for the permanent preservation of students’ university emails, or to allow alumni to set up forwarding from their old university address to an Oxford alumni address.

Conference notes that: 

  • The Oxford University email for undergraduate and graduate full-time students expires three months following the expiry date of your SSO.  

  • Many prestigious universities – including the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, , University College London,, University of California,, New York University, and Rutgers University – allow students to keep their university email for life at little to no cost, or allow the students to transition to an alumni email. 

  • Until as recently as 2021, Oxford graduates had the option of creating an Oxford alumni email address, which would forward emails to their existing personal email address. That service is no longer active as of 2026. 

 

Conference believes that: 

  • Postgraduate students' academic and professional identities are inherently linked to their university email. While updating ORCID contact information is fairly straightforward, in many cases, direct contact information is provided in publications, conferences and more. Given that students are unable to set up automatic forwarding, losing access to their Oxford University email can sever their link to their journal publication, vital networks and potentially lead to missed opportunities - both of which are important for those in their early careers. 

  • Although the University of Oxford retains policies regarding data transfer, in practice, students may resort to downloading their email inbox and/or content of their OneDrive to their private devices to preserve past emails, important conversations, and key contacts – posing a data security risk to the university. In some cases, actions like this could result in a breach of data protection laws when transferring emails concerning sensitive research or data. 

  • Continued access to the university email post-graduation will strengthen the university’s alumni outreach, as graduates are more likely to stay connected with the university, their college, and any university club/society/organisation after graduation, and the university can easily reach out to alumni via the university email.  

 

Conference resolves to: 

 

  • Mandate the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee for the permanent preservation of students’ university emails, or to allow alumni to set up forwarding from their old university address to an Oxford alumni address.