Dear Babson College,

We are writing to express our concern and request regarding the email sent by Babson College on April 12, 2023 regarding the transition from Google to Microsoft 365 for email, calendar, and productivity tools. We want to highlight the substantial impact of this change on the numerous alumni and students who have deeply integrated their Babson Google accounts into their personal and professional lives.

As you know, Babson Google accounts have been accessible post-graduation and have become indispensable for many alumni and students. We understand that the email change only applies to degreed alumni, and we appreciate that Babson College is taking steps to provide a browser-based Outlook account to transfer email and calendar content. 

However, we are requesting the option to keep our alumni email on Google Workspace to avoid losing access to essential personal and professional relationships built throughout the years on features such as Google Docs and Google Drive, which are valuable tools for alumni to collaborate with others and the Babson community. It is important to note that the relationships that exist in Google Workspace ecoystem cannot be recreated in Microsoft 365. 

We acknowledge the factors that contributed to the decision to adopt Microsoft 365, such as the challenges in maintaining two platforms and ensuring a consistent user experience, along with the new storage fees charged by Google. Nonetheless, we would like to draw attention to the fact that current Babson students will continue using Google Workspace, which implies that the college will still have to maintain both platforms. This contradicts the notion that maintaining two platforms is one of the main reasons for this transition.

We also appreciate the college's efforts to maintain consistency in the user experience, but many of us have used Google Workspace as an essential tool for our personal and professional lives—discontinuing Google Workspace will cause significant disruptions to our personal and professional lives.

As alumni of Babson College, we have invested our time, money, and energy into our education and personal development during our time at the college. Our Google Workspace has been an integral part of our personal and professional lives, and they represent our time and experiences at Babson College. We have used these accounts to collaborate with classmates, professors, and colleagues, and they have helped us to build our professional networks. Consequently, these accounts have been incorporated into various aspects of our lives, including the "login with Google" feature on numerous websites and services.

We understand that maintaining an alumni email account incurs a cost for storage, but investing in alumni email accounts is an investment in the college's alumni network. We believe that this investment is essential to fostering long-lasting connections and collaborations between alumni and the college.

We are also aware of the many opportunities we have been presented with to donate to Babson College in the past. However, we do not believe that we can continue to support the college in this way if we cannot access the tools and resources that are essential to our personal and professional lives.

Moreover, we believe that a four-month notice period for such a significant change is insufficient for alumni who have their lives closely tied to Babson Google Workspace. This abrupt shift has negatively impacted our perception of Babson College, and we sincerely hope that a mutually beneficial solution can be reached.

We urge Babson College to collaborate with us in finding a solution that allows interested alumni for continued access to Google Workspace. We are confident that a suitable approach exists that will cater to the needs of both the college and its alumni.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Babson College Alumni