Electronic Mail (Email) & Listserv (Mass Email lists)

Purpose

This policy describes the appropriate use of email and the mass emailing lists.

Scope

This policy applies to all users of the Hamilton College email service.

Policy Revision History

Last revised, April 2021.

Department or Group Accounts

By special permission, college departments and student groups will be granted a single account to facilitate connections between the department or group and interested parties. The department or group must identify one person to be responsible for the account and to act as the contact person. In addition, student organizations must be registered with the Office of Student Activities before an account will be granted.

Appropriate Use of Email

Hamilton strongly recommends that email not be used for confidential communication. email is now considered a formal written record that carries the same legal weight as a formal memorandum. Users of email should remember that email messages become the possession of the receiver and can be easily duplicated and redistributed by recipients. Messages that have been deleted can unintentionally be retained on system backup files. In addition, even secure passwords are not completely confidential. When a private message needs to be conveyed between two individuals, a conversation is the best way to accomplish it, and messages that should not be preserved should be deleted immediately.

College policy prohibits certain types of email. These include mail that may be perceived as harassment, political campaigning, chain mail or commercial solicitation. Violators will be subject to loss of computer access privileges, as well as additional disciplinary action as determined by the Hamilton judiciary procedures. Certain types of email, including but not limited to harassing email, may also subject the sender to civil or criminal penalties. In spite of College policy, email can be abused by malicious users who know the owner's computing ID and password. Users are responsible for protecting their own passwords.

ListServ Lists

• ListServ is a commercial software product in use at Hamilton. It is designed to provide an easy way to create and maintain large email mailing lists. These lists can be used for the one-way distribution of information, for email based discussion, questions, and answers, etc. Lists are created, “owned”, and managed by a faculty, staff, or student member of the College.
• Any faculty, staff, or student member of the Hamilton College community is entitled to become a ListServ list owner. Campus-based organizations and departments are also entitled to own lists, but an individual within the group must be designated as the list owner. Students must be in good standing with the Dean of Students office and student organizations must be registered with the Office of Student Activities.
• All student organizations and clubs must post to the ListServ through their organization’s email address, not from a personal student account. When a new organization is formed it must create an email account.
• Students/organizations, except for the Student Assembly, will not have access to posting to notices-all. If a student organization feels strongly about posting to notices-all, they may post to exception@hamilton.edu for approval.

All lists must be approved by the LITS ListServ administrator prior to creation and the following apply:

1. The purpose of the list must pertain to Hamilton College business.
2. Lists are not open to off-campus subscribers unless special permission is obtained. However, Hamilton College students or employees who use off-campus email addresses are allowed to own and belong to lists.
3. It is the list owner’s responsibility to learn how to manage the list’s subscribers.
4. Under no circumstances can a list be used to participate in or promote activities that are illegal, violate the Hamilton College code of conduct, or the Hamilton College Honor code.
5. Use of any list is subject to the policy on Appropriate Use of Information Technology.

To apply for list ownership or find documentation that will help you send a mass message or manage your listserv list, please visit our Listserv Resources web page.

ListServ Mass Mailing Lists

• As a service to the Hamilton College community, several email based mass mailing lists have been created. These are designed to facilitate the timely and cost-effective distribution of information to the campus community. Email reaches all faculty, administration and staff and students. Participation in the mass mailing lists is voluntary.
• Anonymous mailings are prohibited. The sender’s real name must be identified (in full) within the body of the message - not just at the top in the “from” line.

Please note:

• When composing your message, please be considerate of those who are visually impaired. People of all ages may struggle to read small text.
• It is strongly recommended that you avoid using images (such as posters) as the sole content of your message.
  Software designed to read text aloud cannot interpret words contained in an image. If you must include an image that contains the important details of your event or notice, please repeat the details as normal text somewhere else in your message.

There are two sets of mass mailing lists:

1. Announcement of events

   • By an “event” we mean an activity (speaker, performance, lecture, sporting event, Student Assembly Meeting, etc.) that takes place on or off-campus at a specific date, time and place and is sponsored, or co-sponsored by either an academic or administrative department/program or a student organization recognized by Student Activities.  
   • Sponsorship means that the chair of a College department, program or organization indicates that the organization supports the event and that members of the College are actively involved in organizing the event (e.g., as speakers). If someone other than the organizer(s) makes the event announcement, they share in the responsibility for adhering to the guidelines.

2. General campus notices

• By a “notice” we mean information that is meant to inform the campus of details not related to an event.

• As a general rule, notices will not reference a place to which readers are encouraged to go, whereas an event will almost always include a time, date and a place.

Posting a message to an inappropriate list is a violation (e.g., posting a message to events-all that is intended only for students or posting an event to one of the notices lists)

Events

• Posting to the lists will be limited to all employees, and the email account assigned to each student organization recognized by Student Activities.
• An event will be limited to no more than two posts to the mass mailing lists regardless of who sends the message. Corrections count as one of the two messages.
  • Essentially identical events (same content, different date, time or place)
    • If an essentially identical event occurs seven days (or more) after the original event (e.g. a second blood drive) it is considered a separate event and is subject to the same restrictions as a new event. 
    • If an essentially identical event occurs up to and including six days from the original event (e.g. performances, sales, etc.) all of them should be announced collectively in one message that is sent no more than two times during the six-day period. For example, if the original event occurs on Wednesday and subsequent identical events occur on Saturday and Tuesday, only two messages are allowed in total.
• If an event is canceled or postponed, one additional email is allowed.
• The message body must contain:
  • Subject line that is descriptive of the event; if it is a reminder, the heading should start out with "REMINDER"
  • Name, date and time, location and sponsor of the event

The remainder of the message should be a short description of the event. [Note that if your message includes large graphics you may exceed the Listserv “line limit”. Such messages will be rejected. Contact the LITS Help Desk for assistance at 859-4181.]

The mass email lists for posting events are:

• Events-students@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to all current students)
• Events-20xx@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to students in a particular class year, where xx is the last two digits of the class year)
• Events-faculty@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent only to members of the faculty)
• Events-staff@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent only to members of the staff)
• Events-admin@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent only to members of the administration)
• Events-fm@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to members of Facilities Management)
• Events-employees@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to all current employees - faculty and non-faculty)
• Events-all@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to both students and employees)

Notices

• Posting to the lists will be limited to all employees, Student Assembly, and exception@hamilton.edu.
• A notice will be limited to no more than two posts to the mass mailing lists regardless of who sends the message. Corrections count as one of the two messages.

The notices mass email lists will be used only for the following general categories. A non-comprehensive list of examples is provided for each category.

• Announcement of Hamilton deadlines, policies and procedures
   E.g., drop-add, parking permits, library books due

• Reports from Hamilton departments or organizations
  E.g., Minutes of Student Assembly, reports from faculty meetings, Honor Court decisions, results of campus-wide initiatives or community events such as United Way, Heart Walk & Run, announcement of appointments

• Notification of the availability of, or changes in, Hamilton College services or facilities
  Examples include but are not limited to: dining and fitness center schedules, availability of Hamilton housing, IT and library services, department newsletters, availability of Hamilton sponsored publications, Campus Safety announcements, sales in the College Store, Facilities Management notices, hours of operation, contact information, fundraising activities that are approved by the Office of the President or by Student Activities and are NOT associated with an event. 

The mass email lists for posting notices are:

• Notices-students@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to all current students)
• Notices-20xx@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to students in a particular class year, where xx is the last two digits of the class year)
• Notices-faculty@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent only to members of the faculty)
• Notices-staff@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent only to members of the staff)
• Notices-admin@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent only to members of the administration)
• Notices-fm@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to members of Facilities Management)
• Notices-employees@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to all current employees - faculty and non-faculty)
• Notices-all@listserv.hamilton.edu (sent to both students and employees)

Inappropriate Listserv Use

Please consider your audience carefully (e.g., do not send a mailing to “all” if you only need to reach students). Examples of inappropriate uses include, but are not limited to:

• A message that violated the APPROPRIATE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES under electronic email https://www.hamilton.edu/offices/lits/rc/policies-responsible-use-of-networks-and-computer-facilities#inappropriate
• A message that contains no actual announcement (e.g. does not meet the criteria listed above for an event or a non-event) is a violation.
• Giveaways (personal property such as furniture, tickets, equipment, books, etc.). College-owned property that is being given away must be announced by individuals representing the academic or administrative department responsible for the property.

• Surveys other than those specified above

• Chain mail

• Lost and found (except when it is Hamilton College property, or involves animals) there is a Lost and Found channel in My Hamilton.

• Requests for rides (there is a Rides channel in My Hamilton)

• Items for sale or items desired (including houses, tickets, books, services, etc.) There is a marketplace channel in My Hamilton that can be used for this purpose.

Exceptions to the Guidelines

Messages that fall outside the guidelines, or from senders not approved for mass mail: Any individual wanting to post a message to the mass email lists that falls outside the guidelines, can request that the message be posted by sending a request for an exception to: exception@hamilton.edu. The request will be directed to the appropriate member of the LITS staff for approval. Approval or denial will be communicated to the person making the request. Requests for exceptions should be sent at least two business days in advance of the time the posting is to take place. The exception mail account is not checked over the weekend.

Responding to Violations

A violation consists of any message that fails to meet the guidelines published above.
Penalties may be assessed any time within two weeks of the violation.

Penalties

• A first violation will result in a warning. The warning will clearly explain the violation and what needs to be done differently. If necessary, the Listserv administrator will offer to conduct the necessary training with the goal of preventing further violations.  
• A second violation will result in the removal of posting (sending) privileges to the mass list for a period of one month (not including breaks). 
• A third violation will result in the removal of both posting and receiving messages to/from the mass list for a period of one month (not including breaks).
• A fourth violation will result in the loss of posting and receiving privileges for all lists for a full semester.
• A fifth violation will result in the individual being referred to the appropriate judicial body dealing with employees or students. Violations are cumulative for one academic year (August – May).

You can email exception@hamilton.edu at all stages of warning. The progressive penalties outlined above are a general process. However, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, the Listserv admin may skip or repeat steps.

If you believe you received the violation in error, please email helpdesk@hamilton.edu and explain why you think it was done in error. 

Appeal a Violation

Submit your reason(s) in writing to the Chair of the Faculty Library and Information Technology Committee. The Chair will review the appeal and generally return a decision within five business days. During the appeal process the penalty will be suspended.