TL;DR: Rutgers deletes ScarletMail/Drive account data for inactivity, and only warns you at the ScarletMail email address you’re not checking. Back your data with Google Takeout.

I graduated from Rutgers in August 2021. I did not export my Gmail and Google Drive data using a Google Takeout, because Rutgers says "after graduating, ScarletMail is maintained for alumni".

Recently, I signed into my ScarletMail, and all my emails and files are gone. My Rutgers Google Drive held practically every assignment I worked on, and my ScarletMail held my correspondence with other students and Professors. The digital record of a significant era of my life is gone.

I contacted OIT, they replied:

OIT deletion audits for alumni are initiated primarily for 2 reasons:

- The user has had an expired password for over 2 years
- The user does not maintain a semi-active status with the account.

Before every finalization of an audit, emails are sent out to inform users to take action in regards to their account. If no action is taken, the deletion will occur, thus removing everything from the account.

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Rutgers does not contact graduates using their personal email to inform them their account data will be deleted. I asked OIT when they sent an email to my personal email address, informing me that my ScarletMail would be deleted.

OIT responded:

Additionally, please note that once an account is deemed inactive, the person is contacted through their ScarletMail, not their personal email. You can learn more about the policy in the following knowledge article: https://ithelp.rutgers.edu/sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0013030

This policy all but guarantees the warning goes unread. The least effective method to contact a graduate regarding their inactive ScarletMail account, is by using their ScarletMail email. By definition, if they checked their ScarletMail email regularly, then their account would not be inactive.

Not contacting graduates using their personal email is especially egregious given that Rutgers already uses personal email addresses for NetID account notifications, specifically, NetID password reset confirmations are sent to personal email.

If Rutgers contacted me on my personal email address, I would have taken immediate action to preserve my correspondence and files with a Google Takeout.

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Perhaps someone who is knowledgeable regarding OIT can inform me whether when they do a deletion audit, if they permanently delete the data the moment the audit is run, or if they keep a backup of the deleted data for a year after the audit is complete. I suspect my data was deleted sometime earlier this year in 2026, as I think I remember checking my ScarletMail in 2023, and I see a NetID password reset confirmation was sent to my personal email on 2/21/2024.

OIT says:

Since your account was inactive for an extended period, your previous emails and their contents were removed as part of Rutgers' audit processes.

Unfortunately, this means that your original ScarletMail mailbox and Google Drive data are no longer available and cannot be restored at this time.

For me I read this as, even if Rutgers had temporary backup the deleted data, they are not interested in helping me.

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Once a student has graduated from Rutgers, there are multiple reasons they would want to keep their ScarletMail account. There are use-cases that involve active use of the account, for example, they may want to retain a Rutgers-branded email identity or access third-party services registered with the email address.

However, for most students, I imagine that they simply want to retain their emails and files, in the same manner that one keeps a photo album. For such use-case, actively signing into the account on a yearly basis should not be expected or required. Therefore, I think it was reasonable for me to assume that when Rutgers claimed that ScarletMail is maintained for alumni, that this meant my emails and files would be maintained as well. The wording on the OIT site needs to be changed, so that it is clear that access to ScarletMail is maintained for alumni, but you would be incorrect to assume this means you will see any emails in your inbox.

Unfortunately, I suspect there are many other alumni, who in the future are going to sign into their ScarletMail accounts to find their data has been wiped.

If you are a recent graduate, I encourage you to export and download your ScarletMail Google account data with a Google Takeout. Sometimes the export is split into multiple zip files, where you must download every zip file. You can also create a personal Gmail account, and initialize it using your ScarletMail account, so it functions as a clone of your ScarletMail. In this case, Google will actually send an email to your primary email address used to register the account, in the event that they intend on deleting the account due to inactivity, giving you a heads up to sign-in again. The Google Takeout lets you specify which Google services to include data for, i.e. not just emails and files, but also services like calendar events or photos if you used those.

Can you guys fucking wait for the people inside the bus to get off before getting on??? I get it, you need a seat but at least let the people inside get out first. I was cramped the other day and none of you would even move. Like, wtf???