Electronic Mail Policy

Purpose

St. Ambrose University (SAU) provides electronic mail for use by students, faculty, staff, emeritus faculty, alumni and others affiliated with SAU. SAU encourages the appropriate use of email to further its mission goals.

SAU provides email for use when engaging in activities relating to instruction, research, clinical and public service, and management and administrative support. SAU also permits incidental personal use provided that such use does not interfere with SAU operations, does not generate incremental identifiable costs to the University, or does not negatively impact the user's job performance.

You may not use SAU email for commercial purposes; for personal financial gain; to support candidate or party fund raising; for the false impression that you are representing, giving opinions, or otherwise making statements on behalf of the University unless appropriately authorized (explicitly or implicitly) to do so; for the theft or other abuse of computing resources prohibited by law or University policy; or to support outside organizations not otherwise authorized to use University facilities. If you wish to use SAU email in support of external organizations (charities, for example), you need to secure approval of the Director of Information Technology or the Director's designate. The Director will approve such use only when it furthers SAU's mission and goals.

SAU email accounts remain the property of the University. The University routinely disables the accounts 30 days after termination or other severance from the University.

Appropriate Use

Please apply common sense and civility to your use of email. Appropriate use includes the following practices:

• Identify yourself clearly and accurately in all electronic communications. Concealing or misrepresenting your name or affiliation to dissociate yourself from your communication is never appropriate.
• Respect and maintain the integrity of the original author. Alteration of the source of electronic mail, message, or posting is unethical and possibly illegal.   
• Use care that your use of email does not disseminate computer viruses or other programs that may damage or place excessive load on email or other University resources.
• Refrain from sending chain mail (which is illegal) and junk mail (mass mailing unrelated to university business and unlikely to be wanted by the majority of recipients).
• The use of broadcast mail (sending the same note to groups of employees or students) places stress on the email system. It should be used selectively for compelling mission-related reasons only. Only authorized users may send broadcast mail to the large broadcast groups (Faculty, Staff and SAU Students) using the broadcast mail account set up specifically for this purpose.  All Faculty and Staff are authorized to send broadcast mail to the Faculty and Staff groups.  Authorized access to send broadcast mail to the Student group (entire student population) is limited. 

Student Email

The University routinely uses email for both formal and informal communication with students.

Each student, upon enrolling, is issued a SAU email account with an address on the SAU.edu domain. This is the account used for University business and official University communications to students. Students are expected to regularly check their SAU account for University communications.

Students may also, at their discretion, routinely forward email from their personal account (accounts through other Internet providers such as yahoo or hotmail) to their SAU account. They should keep in mind that SAU email is encrypted during storage and transmission and may be more secure than another email system.

Upon graduation, students are issued an alumni email account.  The alumni email account is subject to the same terms as listed herein.

Security

Ensure that your account and account password is used only by you. Be careful at public workstations to completely log off after using email. Abide by security restrictions on systems and information, including encoding and encryption.

Privacy and Rights of Others

The University supports a climate of trust and respect and does not ordinarily read, monitor, or screen electronic mail. University employees or students who read, disseminate, or otherwise compromise the confidentiality of electronic mail without the express direction of the Director or his/her designate are subject to disciplinary action, including termination.

Nevertheless, the University cannot assure the confidentiality or privacy of email. The University is a public institution and all University information, including all email communication, may be accessed through force of law. Authorized technicians access email systems to perform system maintenance. The Director or his/her designate may authorize access to employee or student email in a number of circumstances including, but not limited to:

• Situations involving the health or safety of people or property
• Possible violations of University codes of conduct, regulations, policies, or laws
• Other legal responsibilities or obligations of the University
• The need to locate information required for University business

Be aware that email is not a confidential or private medium of communication, and exercise good judgment in choosing what to include in your documents. Good judgment dictates that email be used only for communications that the sender would comfortably enter into the public record.

• Be extremely cautious in transmitting information about students and other individuals, due to their rights to privacy and the commitment of the University to protect those rights.
• Treat email files and attachments as private and confidential, unless the author(s) make them explicitly available to others.
• Respect the copyright, intellectual property rights, contracts and/or licenses of others, including the University.

Accountability

The use of email for illegal or unethical purposes, for abusive and harassing activities or other violations of the rights of others, or for purposes inconsistent with University policy or regulation may result in termination of email access, disciplinary action, or dismissal/termination.

Revised: February 11, 2005