University at Albany
Policy No. TBD
yA TS Information Technology Services
Office of the CIO
Email as an Official Means of Communication with Students
Policy Statement:
Effective fall 2005, email will be used as an official method for communicating with
students. This policy stipulates that the University can convey relevant academic and
administrative information to targeted student populations via their UAlbany email
account. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the content of
messages delivered to them in this format.
Scope:
This policy pertains to all graduate, undergraduate and non-degree students. UAlbany
email accounts are assigned to students when they become eligible to enroll for courses,
and will be designated as the student’s official email address for the purposes of University
email communications.
Responsibility:
Students are responsible for checking their University email accounts frequently and
consistently, and for familiarizing themselves with the content of University messages.
Because correspondence may be time-sensitive, students are encouraged to check their
accounts daily. Use of the official UAlbany email account provided by the University is
strongly encouraged. Students may opt to redirect email to an account of their own
choosing, but do so at their own risk. The University does not guarantee delivery to
forwarded addresses. Errors in forwarding, messages returned “Mailbox Full” or “User
Unknown”, or failing to check email are not acceptable excuses for missing official
University communications.
The University is responsible for exercising discretion regarding the use and content of
email messages. Student information should only be shared with employees of the
University or its agents with a legitimate educational interest in that information. All
faculty/staff must be familiar with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
to ensure the content of email messages is consistent with those guidelines. For more
information, see the section on FERPA in the University’s Undergraduate Bulletin.
Additionally, all messages should be compliant with the ITS guidelines established in the
companion to this document, Student Email Policy Guidelines for Use.
Privacy:
The University cannot guarantee confidentiality in electronic communications to students.
Procedure:
The Office of the Chief Information Officer shall establish guidelines and procedures as
may be appropriate for the implementation of this policy. Please refer to these guidelines
for more information.
University at Albany
Policy No. TBD
yA TS Information Technology Services
Office of the CIO
Guidelines for Use of Email:
Everyday Communications
Email as an Official Means of Communication with Students
Background Information:
Email has been an accepted form of communication at the University for several years. It is
an effective way to convey information in an efficient and time-sensitive manner to various
constituencies. For policy purposes, the use of email at the University at Albany can be
categorized two ways: 1) everyday communications; or 2) messages sent to targeted
populations.. These guidelines demonstrate the requirements which correspond to the
increasingly formal policies pertaining to communication conveyed to students in an email
format. All members of the UAlbany community are required to use email in a manner
consistent with the University’s Responsible Use of Information Technology policy.
Policies pertaining to the use of email do not preclude or limit the day-to-day exchange of
information sent via email in the pursuit of legitimate educational goals, particularly
between students and faculty. Designating email as an official method of communicating
with students provides departments and offices with the option of sending information
electronically. Using email for such purposes is at the discretion of the sender and in no
way precludes the use of other communication mechanisms.
Everyday Communications:
This category represents the most typical conveyance of information to a specific individual
or audience. It includes faculty use of email to communicate with students, as well as
correspondence between students, faculty and staff in their routine activities. If email is
required for successful completion of a course, faculty are strongly encouraged to state this
explicitly in the course syllabus. All everyday communications must comply with the
Responsible Use of Information Technology policy.
General Guidelines for Targeted Student Groups:
Because of their ability to reach large groups of students, email messages sent in an official
capacity to targeted student groups or all students are subject to a stricter set of
guidelines. Email messages should be used judiciously, as students may disregard
messages if they receive too many, especially if the information does not pertain to them.
Message content should be appropriate for an email format, including but not limited to,
the following:
* Messages must be compliant with the University’s policy on Responsible Use of
Information Technology
« ITS suggests that offices create distribution lists or listservs for student groups they
communicate with regularly
Last Revised: 5/16/05
Adopted: September 2005
* Messages should be simple, direct and convey a legitimate educational purpose
* Official emails to targeted student populations should be limited to those for whom.
the information is relevant
« Attachments should be used with care to minimize the risk of passing on viruses or
worms. Exercise caution with large files, which have the potential to overfill student
mailboxes
Examples of Appropriate Content:
Messages must be compliant with the University’s policy on Responsible Use of
Information Technology
Academic program information
« Academic department information (changes in course offerings, job openings,
events)
Advisement appointments
Changes to academic policies or services
Commencement information
Degree clearance information
Placement information
Registration or billing deadlines
Examples of Inappropriate Content:
Any message which violates the University’s Responsible Use of Information
Technology policy
« Any message requesting the return of secure information via email, such as social
security numbers, Albany ID, user ID, passwords, date of birth, credit card
information, etc.
* Information unrelated to official University business or without a legitimate,
educational purpose
* Promotions or solicitations of any kind
Email as an Official Means of Communication with Students:
Messages governed by this policy are directed to specific, targeted student audiences. This
policy is intended to provide offices with the option of using email to provide important,
generic information to groups of students with whom they may not be in regular contact.
Academic departments are welcome to adopt the Email as an Official Means of
Communication with Students policy. However, these units may already have successful
communication mechanisms, including email, to convey many informational sources to
student populations. This policy is not intended to supplant such communication
mechanisms already in place.
Offices choosing to use email as an official means of communicating with student audiences
are responsible for maintaining records of all communications sent in that format. They
should also be prepared to receive return messages for emails which could not be
delivered. If replies are anticipated, they should be prepared to respond and be aware that
some students may reply using email.
Approval of senior management is not required to send messages to targeted groups of
students. Offices are expected to observe the same propriety used in official
communications conveyed in other formats.
Who can use email to communicate official information?
Specifying email as an official means of communication grants academic and administrative
departments the option of using email in addition to the communication mechanisms
Last Revised: 5/16/05
Adopted: September 2005
currently available to them. Offices choosing to exercise this option are responsible for
retaining records of official communications delivered in an email format.
For the purposes of official and mass email communications, messages will be sent to
students’ official University email address as described below. Offices, departments or
individuals who have access to preferred email addresses are not required to use official
email addresses.
Assignment and redirecting of email accounts:
All students are assigned an email account when they become eligible to enroll for courses.
Students should be aware this is their official email account, and that the University will
use it as a conveyance of important information. Students may opt to forward their official
account to an outside service provider, but are advised they do so at their own risk. The
University is only responsible for messages sent to official University email accounts.
Students are responsible for checking their email frequently and consistently (on a daily
basis) for official correspondence and familiarizing themselves with the content of official
messages.
Accessing Official Email Addresses:
Academic and administrative offices seeking student email addresses may login to
PeopleSoft and access the Data Warehouse. Queries can be run to obtain students’ email
addresses. Such queries only retrieve the official University email address, even if a
preferred email address has been specified. Additionally, queries only return addresses for
those students who have activated their official University email account. Offices relying on
contact information from the Data Warehouse are advised that there are no formal
mechanisms for obtaining email addresses for students who have not activated their official
University email account.
Official policies pertaining to communicating with students via email in no way prevent
faculty or departmental offices from using students’ preferred email addresses, should they
have access to that information.
Privacy:
All faculty and staff should be familiar with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(see FERPA in the Undergraduate Bulletin for more information) and the University’s
responsibility to protect students’ privacy. Offices choosing to utilize email as an official
means of communication should use the bcc field or create listservs to protect the identity
of recipients.
Last Revised: 5/16/05
Adopted: September 2005
COUNCIL ON LIBRARIES, INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND COMPUTING
POTENTIAL AMENDMENTS TO THE
E-MAIL AS AN OFFICIAL MEANS OF COMMUNICATION WITH STUDENTS POLICY
15 DECEMBER 2005
Tentative policy changes proposed by the Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and
Computing at its most recent meeting (15 December 2005).
1. In the policy statement: Delete ‘”Mailbox Full” or’ from the last sentence of the
first paragraph under Responsibility. This proposal is based on the belief that
there may be some circumstances not under the student’s control which may
generate this condition and prevent important e-mail from being delivered.
2. In the policy statement: Add a sentence after the fourth sentence in the first
paragraph under Responsibility (the sentence specifying that redirection of e-mail
is at the student’s own risk). This sentence should explain that the risk exists
largely because some ISP’s may not deliver e-mail originating from an albany.edu
address.. This proposal is simply to provide a more detailed explanation as to
what the risk is that is associated with redirecting e-mail.
3. In the guidelines for use: Replace the last bullet point in the first set of points
under General Guidelines for Targeted Student Groups (concerned with
attachments). The replacement sentence should indicate that attachments are
not to be used in official e-mail communications.
Tentative policy change considered by LISC at its most recent meeting, but tabled for further
discussion and a search for further information.
1. In the guidelines for use: Add a paragraph at the end of Email as an Official
Means of Communication with Students. The paragraph should indicate that any
e-mail that is either time-sensitive or may affect the student’s status in the
University must include a “Read Receipt” request. If the sender does not receive
a receipt with a reasonable period of time, or receives a notice that the message
was undeliverable, then the sender should find other means of communicating
with the student as soon as possible. The intent is to create an e-mail equivalent
to Registered Mail for critical communications.
We emphasize that these proposals are subject to further revision and that other proposals
may be generated before a bill is presented to the Senate
Last Revised:
Adopted: Septembe!
