Dartmouth Professor Advocates Removing Class Year From Student Email Addresses
HANOVER, NH – A Dartmouth College sociology professor is calling for the removal of class years from student email addresses, arguing the practice inadvertently stigmatizes students who graduate outside the traditional four-year timeframe. In a recent opinion piece published in The Dartmouth, Assistant Professor Casey Stockstill contends the seemingly minor detail reinforces a rigid timeline for achieving adulthood milestones, a timeline increasingly out of reach for many young people in today’s economic climate.
Stockstill notes Dartmouth is an ”email-heavy place,” where the addresses serve multiple functions, including course enrollment, networking, and even a practice students call ”flitzing.” this constant visibility of class year,she argues,disproportionately impacts students who take longer to complete their degrees due to factors like changing majors,family tragedies,or health challenges.
“Dartmouth’s class-year email addresses…make those who are ‘off-track’ stand out,” Stockstill writes. She points to the college’s 96% six-year graduation rate – higher than the national average of 64% for four-year institutions – as evidence that extended timelines are common and should be normalized. The Hechinger Report corroborates this,noting the prevalence of students needing more than four years to graduate.
While acknowledging class year distinctions will persist through events like Orientation Week, Stockstill believes removing the identifier from email addresses is a “meaningful step” toward allowing students to “digitally introduce themselves on their own terms.” She further suggests it could help de-emphasize the expectation that all students should adhere to a strict,pre-persistent path.
Stockstill’s argument connects to broader societal trends, citing research showing young people are increasingly delaying traditional adulthood markers like financial independence, marriage, and parenthood. She concludes that navigating unexpected “curveballs” and adapting plans is a crucial part of modern adulthood, a process hindered by the constant reminder of an expected timeline embedded in Dartmouth’s email system.
