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Student leaders at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) have been experiencing unexpected issues with their official email addresses, as the domain now requires two-factor authentication (2FA) to log in.
Students must go through TMU’s Computing and Communications Services (CCS) to get access to authentication codes, which allow them to log in to their accounts.
But some groups have faced delays and uncertainty as their accounts were originally created by the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU).
The overlapping responsibility between CCS and the TMSU has created confusion about who manages student group email accounts. In multiple cases, students have been redirected between the two departments without a clear resolution.
Change was made Aug. 15
On Aug. 26, student leaders registered under the TMSU received an email from Danielle Beckford, TMSU’s campus groups coordinator, confirming that as of Aug. 15 two-factor authentication had become mandatory for all generic student group accounts at TMU.
Beckford advised that account-related issues should be directed to the CCS Help Desk and noted that she had no authorization to make any changes or provide 2FA herself.
A screenshot of an email sent to TMU student leaders on Aug. 26, 2025, telling them that two-factor authentication is now required to access student group accounts. (Ria Sidhu/OTR)
There are more than 300 student groups registered under the TMSU, and organizing authentication codes for each group is a tedious and exhausting process, said Zonash Khalid, a fourth-year public health student who works at the TMSU as a part-time events lead and is the president of the Faculty of Community Services Student Society (FCSS).
Khalid first faced this issue after one of her student groups, the Met Desi Alliance, was unable to log in to their email in July. Khalid was hit by this issue for a second time when she was logged out of her FCSS email accounts in August.
“I was locked out of not only my [executive director] email, but also some other affiliated emails that I was a part of to contact the student body,” said Khalid.
“I was locked out of it for like three weeks,” she said. “I did try reaching out to CCS, but what I got from them was that it needs to be someone from your student society or a TMU staff member who would enforce the authentication codes, and then I’ll get access to it.”
In August, Khalid said, a handful of FCSS’s board members, including the international director, the nutrition director and others, were logged out of their email addresses — and they haven’t been able to get back in.
That’s the same for Vaasavi Karunathasan, president of the Professional Communication Course Union (PCCU), who said she was first made aware of this issue on Aug. 16 after one of her vice-presidents was unable to log in to their shared email account.
“I was being directed in so many different ways, and we [the PCCU] just got so frustrated,” said Karunathasan.
Karunathasan remains locked out of her account with no clear path to regain access.
“Everything coming into our PCCU email, we have no access to,” she said.
Lockout comes during critical time
This issue has affected student groups across campus during a critical period of the fall semester. Emails are the primary means of communication with campus stakeholders and for orientation planning, event promotion, budget preparation, hiring and election season.
“This transition has interrupted the institutional memory, and it’s very hard to get stuff archived from an email that is not even there,” Khalid said.
Khalid said she and FCSS’s manager of student engagement and development, Rudhra Persad, have been working with CCS to regain access to their emails, but have not had any luck so far.
CCS manages TMU’s institutional email system and uses two-factor authentication to ensure security and protect against online threats. According to its website, two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security by requiring two verifications when logging in to TMU accounts.
For now, student leaders are relying on their personal TMU email addresses or social media accounts to maintain communication with students. While this has allowed operations to continue, it has also created concerns about continuity and professionalism.
Khalid said she’s frustrated and is calling on the school to provide a more coordinated process with timely support.
“Incoming students, the student groups, we need to show the student body at TMU that, ‘hey, this is what your society or your student group gets to offer,’” she said.
“And it’s really hard to do that [without email].”
On The Record reached out to the TMSU and CCS, but neither organization had responded at the time of publication.
She is currently in the undergraduate journalism program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University), where she enjoys creating multimedia content, writing for news and sports, and recording for Frugal Radio whether that be for social media content or full episodes. She is passionate about learning about individual backgrounds, and people’s personal stories whilst learning about new perspectives.
Over the last six to seven years, leadership has been a big part of her journey. Ria actively finds new ways to stay informed and involved in society. She is a passionate leader and team player: analytical and creative in her approach. Throughout high school and now in university, her love for being in student groups, being a part of a team at large, and being a part of a bigger cause has motivated her in all aspects of life. She was formerly the Co-President of the Journalism Course Union and is currently the President of The Society of The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Throughout her life, working with cameras, taking pictures, and recording mini-vlogs as a little girl were always some of her favorite things to do. Now, she enjoys working as a Content Creator under the Student Communications department at TMU (@StudentLifeTMU & @ChooseTMU), planning videos, filming and working in post-production, whether that be creating news packages, podcast episodes or social media and marketing content.
No AI tools were used in the production of this story.
