Harvard announced the same shutdown — and reversed it in six weeks

Announced, then reversed

Announced deactivation in September 2022 and reversed it on October 27, after a petition reached about 2,800 signatures. Still forwards @post.harvard.edu and @alumni.harvard.edu through an outside vendor.

What happened

Harvard announced the deactivation of alumni email forwarding in September 2022. On October 27, 2022 — about six weeks later — it reversed the decision, after a petition reached roughly 2,800 signatures.

It still forwards @post.harvard.edu and @alumni.harvard.edu today. The Harvard Alumni Association has confirmed an outside vendor runs the service but has never named the company, and neither does this site.

Why this row matters most

Every university making this decision presents it as settled and technically necessary. Harvard presented it that way too, and then changed its mind in six weeks on the strength of a few thousand alumni saying so.

That is the single most useful fact in this comparison, because it establishes something no technical argument can: the decision is reversible, and it has been reversed. Not deferred, not litigated into a temporary extension — reversed, and still standing four years later.

How this bears on the question

Harvard is the proof that an announcement is not an outcome. It is the reason this campaign exists in its current form rather than as a farewell. Duke switches off @alumni.duke.edu on January 31, 2027, and has announced no replacement address service.

Sources and further reading

This page is part of an independent record of university alumni email terminations, maintained by a Duke alum. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Harvard or Duke University. Every row is sourced to the university’s own documentation where one exists, and this record has been corrected in public three times.

If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us — a correction is more useful than being right by default.