Student Gmail & Calendar Transition to Microsoft O365
While faculty, staff and students have been using Microsoft O365 since 2017, only faculty and staff had been offered email and calendar accounts. Students, who used Google Gmail for email, were migrated to Microsoft Outlook for a variety of reasons, and they also maintained access to Google Workspace apps like Google Drive, Google Docs, and more. 
There are several productivity benefits for being on a university-wide email and calendar platform, including increased visibility of calendars (for scheduling meetings and appointments) and collaboration on Microsoft's various web apps.
When Google announced upcoming changes to its pricing model (they planned to start charging for storage services that were previously free for educational institutions), Microsoft O365 emerged as the leading alternative for William & Mary students. After careful consideration, including consultation with student leaders, it was decided that email for faculty, staff and students will be unified on the O365 platform.
An added benefit of migrating students to O365 is that the also gained access to Microsoft Teams, a university-wide collaboration and chat platform. In addition, security filters for O365 are managed by W&M which should lead to reductions in email spam for students and increased protection against phishing.
