07.200.14 Mass Emails

Chancellor

Effective August 19, 2014

UNC Code, Section 502

UNCW Policy 07.100.09 Email Abuse

OUR/ITS

Policy Details:

1. Purpose

   To address concerns from the campus community about an excess of emails sent to the faculty/staff and student populations and in an effort to continue to strengthen internal communications policies and procedures.

2. Scope

   This policy covers all employees.

3. Policy

   1. Definition of Mass Emails

      Mass emails are defined as a single email sent to all faculty/staff and/or students or to those who haven’t “opted in” for (requested) mass emails from the originating department that is not directly about university business (e.g., notifications of an upcoming event being sent to hundreds of faculty/staff who have not asked to be kept informed of such events).

   2. Process and Rules for All Mass Emails

      1. Mass emails to the entire body of UNCW faculty and staff and/or will be employed only to inform the campus community of the following:

         1. Emergency and/or breaking news that directly affects the well-being of members of the campus community. This includes matters of public safety; immediate threats to IT security; time-sensitive property, facility or traffic updates; inclement weather warnings that may lead to cancellation/delay of classes or work schedules; building/property closures; or a need for personal safety precautions due to weather or other conditions; and

         2. Direct messages from the Chancellor, Provost, Vice Chancellors or Chief of Staff (or their designees); or urgent matters of Human Resources, University Police, Environmental Health & Safety; or General Counsel significance.

      2. Any emails intended for distribution to the entire faculty/staff and/or student body require the express permission of the division’s Cabinet representative and the Office of University Relations. In addition to providing support with messaging and formatting, OUR can also advise regarding timing (e.g., if another mass email is in the queue and could interfere with the effectiveness of intended messaging) and other elements to support a communications strategy.

      3. There are sub-groups that are not subject to these distribution restrictions as regards to emails that are directly about university business, which include those sent to students enrolled in a specific class, faculty and staff in a specific department or office, and members of specific student or employee organizations or committees (such as Faculty Senate or Staff Senate). The person(s) in authority in the group shall determine what messages are appropriate for distribution within that group, but only within that group. "All undergraduate students" or "all faculty members" are examples of broad classifications, not specific groups, and are not exempt.

      4. Departments/units on campus are welcome to create their own listservs for mass email distribution, inviting recipients to opt in for future messages.

      5. Access to UNCW email addresses for survey research is limited to UNCW students, faculty and staff, in most cases requires approval of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, and in all cases requires approval of OUR Executive Director of the university. Individuals should read and fully understand UNCW's rules on the use of mass email for research before seeking approval. For more information about using email for research, contact the Executive Director of OUR.

      6. Requests for mass email messages should be sent to the Office of University Relations at our@uncw.edu or to the Executive Director of University Relations. Requests for access to email addresses for research should be sent to the Executive Director of OUR.

      7. Divisions, departments, offices, and units should consider SWOOP, the weekly faculty/staff newsletter, the official and exclusive means of sharing non-urgent updates. (This does not include in-division or in-department messaging, which is at the sole discretion of division/department leadership.) These faculty/staff items may include the announcement of retirements or appointments, events, building or program updates, non-urgent matters of Human Resources, facilities, and ITS, and many other areas as determined on a case-by-case basis.

      8. Faculty and staff should visit uncw.edu/SWOOP to submit announcements, news items, or other notes of interest for newsletter consideration. The Office of University Relations may suggest alternative and/or additional means of information distribution.