Electronic mail (email) services at SU are provided to support education, personal and scholarly communication, administration and other SU business. Everyone using email should be considerate of the needs of others, and be certain not to impede the use of the email services by others. Users should be respectful of the feelings of others and be aware that any message can be redistributed to anyone with great ease. In addition, all electronic messages must contain the name and electronic mail address of the person making the information available; no anonymous information should be sent.

EMAIL PRIVACY

Electronic mail messages are considered private correspondence. As such, messages are viewed as the private property of the receiver and will not be made available to other members of the campus community without the owners’ consent. Although privacy and security are of the utmost importance, university administrators may access messages under some circumstances. These include:

To comply with a request under federal or state public information laws;
To maintain, repair, and trouble shoot the computer network;
To investigate misuse of the network, such as theft, copyright infringement, gambling, pornography, and harassment, after the University is put on notice of a specific concern;
To obtain university business records and to conduct business-related investigation, such as audits.

ACCEPTABLE USES OF UNIVERSITY EMAIL

The SU email system may be used as follows:

To perform educational/university business and to communicate with all friends, family, classmates, and associates locally and off campus.
To communicate with local and foreign educators, students, researchers and colleagues in connection with instruction or research.

UNACCEPTABLE USES OF UNIVERSITY EMAIL

The SU email system may not be used:

To engage in or promote a private commercial business purposes in violation of University policies**;
To send chain letters, or any illegal schemes or activities;
To send mailings to large numbers of people that contains unwanted solicitations or information. These mailings are often referred to as "spams". (The university provides a daily Campus Bulletin Digest that should be the vehicle for the distribution of general interest information);
To launch an email “attack” resulting in a denial of service to university email users;
To send messages which constitute illegal activities or harassment or infringement on the rights of others;
To send anonymous mailings, or mailings which impersonate another individual;
To introduce a computer virus;
To violate the constraints on communications imposed by any licensing or professional association to which the user belongs;

ENFORCEMENT OF POLICY

Any user, who engages in the actions specifically prohibited under “Unacceptable Uses”, as judged by the University Chief Information Officer, may lose access to e-mail services, pending a meeting with the Chief Information Officer. Notification of loss of access must be accompanied by a written explanation. If the issue is not resolved during this meeting, further appeal may be necessary to regain email access. In the case of students, the Office of the Vice- President of Student Affairs will determine the appropriate action including referral to the University Judicial System. In the case of faculty, the Academic Freedom and Tenure will make the judgment and in the case of staff, the appropriate supervising Vice President will hear any appeal.

CAMPUS BULLETIN DIGEST

The University maintains a list server that disseminates non-business related information to interested users on a daily basis. The Campus Bulletin Digest (CBD) compiles emails from users and sends these items in the form of one SU email message a day. Users may subscribe or unsubscribe from the Digest, at will. Personal or non-business matters should be distributed through the Digest rather than through email messages to everyone on Campus. Submissions to the Campus Bulletin Digest must follow the same acceptable use requirements as any other campus email.

RECOMMENDATIONS ON EMAIL USE Some recommendations for the use of campus email:

It is recommended that communication of confidential or proprietary information be restricted as much as possible.
If a user inadvertently comes upon information not intended for public viewing, exit immediately.
It is recommended that users store no personal information about others in their files.
Files that are considered highly personal or confidential should be stored on the owners’ personal computer and protected by a password, and removed from the campus network.
It is strongly recommended that users maintain the confidentiality of their email and network passwords. Approved by SU Faculty and staff Senates Spring 2002.

*This policy does not supercede or negate any part of the SU Information Technology Acceptable Use policy (Word).

**To use the system for non-University public relations or non-profit fund-raising activities, forward information to the Public Relations Office. (Comprehensive list will be published regularly and used in weekly campus-wide newsletter, eSU News.)