The University of Queensland has announced that it will deactivate alumni's student email addresses, originally intended to commence in December 2021. This decision comes despite students previously being guaranteed that their UQ email address was "for life". 

Many alumni rely on their UQ email address in their professional career after graduation. This includes for job applications, contracts, communication with academics, communication with journals and publishers, and volunteering. Alumni have also expressed concern as they have nominated their UQ email address (under the impression that it would be permanent) for recovery and security of important accounts, which cannot easily be changed.

UQ claims that "stakeholders were consulted about the potential impact of retiring alumni accounts", but it appears this consultation was very poorly conducted as the concerns above were clearly ignored. 

Above all, students were given a guarantee that their UQ email address would be permanent. Abandoning this promise is both unprofessional and dishonest from UQ management. 

We therefore call on UQ management to reverse the decision to retire all alumni email addresses, and to ensure that those alumni wishing to continue using their UQ email address are able to do so. We also call on all alumni and other stakeholders not to donate to the University whilst it refuses to act in the best interests of students and alumni.