Electronic Communication (email) Policy

Date of Original Implementation: October 2011

Date of Last Revision: October 2011

Purpose

Cambridge College has invested in its technology infrastructure to enhance teaching and learning and to enable efficient business practices. All Cambridge College students, faculty, and staff have access to email as a communication tool and the MyCC portal for current news, events, personalized messages and teaching and learning activities. Cambridge College is committed to the use of College wide electronic communication to enhance interpersonal communications, improve information exchange, and to reduce the use of paper and printed materials.

The purpose of this policy is to identify electronic communication as an official means of communication within Cambridge College and to define the responsibilities of Cambridge College students, faculty and staff related to electronic communication.

Statement of Policy

Cambridge College provides access to email and the MyCC portal for all students, faculty and staff. Email is an official method of communication at Cambridge College. Students, faculty and staff are held strictly responsible for the consequences of not reading College related communications sent to their official Cambridge College email address. Cambridge College students will also utilize the MyCC portal to post role specific messages and College related announcements.

Scope

Assignment of email addresses

Students and faculty are assigned a go-email username and password upon acceptance to a program or upon hire. Core faculty, Coordinators and staff are assigned a Microsoft Exchange username and password upon hire by Cambridge College, after being added to the Human Resource System. Core faculty will have both go-email and Exchange email accounts. Access to email is provided directly or indirectly through the MyCC portal, Outlook Web Access or Outlook on a Windows desktop (on campus). The official Cambridge College email address is:

Core Faculty/Staff - username@cambridgecollege.edu 

Student/faculty - username@go.cambridgecollege.edu

Educational uses of electronic communications

Faculty members may require the use of email, MyCC course tools, or other forms of electronic communication for course content delivery, class discussion, or synchronous chat. It is recommended that faculty specify these requirements in their course syllabus. Faculty may expect or require that students access MyCC and read notices sent to their official Cambridge College email address.

Email forwarding

Students who forward their official Cambridge College email to another email address (e.g. username@gmail.com) do so at their own risk. Cambridge College cannot be held accountable or ensure the delivery of its official communications by external service providers. Forwarding email does not relieve the receiver from the responsibilities associated with electronic communications sent to their official Cambridge College email address. It cannot be stressed more strongly that students and faculty MUST use their College provided email address while they are associated with the College.

Responsible use of email

All use of email will be consistent with other Cambridge College policies and local, state and federal law, including the Cambridge College Policy on the Responsible Use of Information Technology.

Email is a tool provided by the College to complement traditional methods of communications and to improve education and administrative efficiency. All email users have a responsibility to use this resource in an efficient, effective, ethical and lawful manner. Use of the college’s e-mail system is confirmation that the user agrees to be bound by this policy. Violations of the policy may result in restriction of access to the College’s email system and/or other appropriate disciplinary action.

The following should be observed when using any College email system:

Conducting business for profit using College email and or other resources is prohibited. Incidental non-business personal use of e-mail is acceptable, but an expectation of privacy cannot be guaranteed due to the official nature of the email system; Using any email to send information that is classified as private or can be shown to contain personally identifiable information is prohibited. While the College will make every attempt to keep email messages secure, privacy is not guaranteed and users should have no general expectation of privacy in email messages sent through a College email system.

Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary for the Cambridge College IT staff or other appropriate College officials to access email files to investigate security or abuse incidents or violations of this or other college policies. Such access must be approved by a Vice President, the President or General Counsel and will be on an as needed basis and any e-mail accessed will only be disclosed to those individuals with a need to know or as required by law.

Individuals are responsible for saving email messages as they deem appropriate. Due to limited resources the IT department has the right to restrict the amount of user storage on the College email system. Go email storage quotas are likewise controlled by Google. Users are asked to manage the volume of email in their account and are required, from time-to-time, to purge deleted or trashed emails. The College reserves the right to purge deleted emails in a users’ account if space needs become critical.

When using email as an official means of communication, students, faculty, and staff should apply the same professionalism, discretion, and standards that they would use in written business communication. Furthermore, students, faculty, and staff should not communicate anything via email that they would not be prepared to say publicly. Email may be accessed by the College for official purposes including but not limited to administrative need for official information, production in legal proceedings, information related to student records, information related to personnel records, etc.; however, such access must be approved by the account holder, a Vice President, the President or General Counsel.

Approval and transmission of email containing essential college announcements to students, faculty, and/or staff must be obtained from the appropriate authority. Only the Offices of Vice Presidents or President can authorize the sending of broadcast messages to a wide audience of students, faculty, and staff within the scope of their authority. IT will only send broadcast messages as they relate to maintenance issues or security concerns.

The following types of emails are explicitly prohibited:

• Emails that exchange proprietary information or other highly privileged, confidential or sensitive information.
• Emails that are considered advertisements, solicitations, chain letters, political communications and other unofficial, unsolicited email.
• Emails including sexual content, pornography, lewd or other highly inappropriate behavior when considering the official nature and purpose of the College email system.
• Emails that are in violation of any laws, including copyright laws, or Institutional policies.
• Emails that knowingly transmit a message containing a computer virus.
• Emails that intentionally misrepresent the identity of the sender of an e-mail. Emails that use or attempt to use the accounts of others without their permission.

POLICY APPLIES TO

This policy applies to all students, faculty, and staff of the College and to all other users of information technology resources at Cambridge College. These users are responsible for reading, understanding, and complying with this policy.

Individual Responsible for Revision and Implementation: Vice President for Finance and Administration and Director of Information Technology