POLICY TITLE:     Mass E-mail Mailings

POLICY #: IT - 09

DATE DRAFTED: 12/17/00

DATE POSTED for Review: 03/20/02    

APPROVED DATE: 09/01/05

REVISION DATE: 06/06/05 Version 2

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Provide guidance and procedures for the use of large-volume electronic mailings to the campus community.

Purpose | Policy Scope | Related Policies | IT Policy Index

Purpose:

Electronic mail (e-mail) is an important resource for academic and administrative communications. A mass mailing is one method for delivery of information, though it may not always be the best choice. (See “Mass Mail Best Practices” on web site.) Benefits include speed of delivery, a facility for selection of "targeted" audiences, and the potential for enterprise-wide cost savings.

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance and procedures for the use of large-volume electronic mailings to the campus community. A “mass mailing” is any mailing that goes to more than 1000 individuals, other than self-subscribed mailing lists. Administrative policies may limit the number of mailings allowed per semester. Nothing in this policy is intended to burden faculty or collegiate communication with students.

The goals of the policy are:

  1. to educate the campus community in the proper ways to use large volume mailings, either paper or e-mail

  2. to limit the exposure of University faculty, staff and students to mail that is not important to your University role

  3. to manage the use of University address information by outside individuals or groups, while still complying with the Iowa Public Records law.

Under Iowa law, the e-mail addresses of public employees are considered to be public records. Release of student e-mail addresses are governed by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The University honors the letter and spirit of these laws in fulfilling requests for e-mail addresses. In cases where individuals and/or organizations outside of the University misuse the e-mail addresses provided, the University reserves the right to take whatever actions are necessary to block outside e-mail in order to preserve the integrity and efficiency of its systems.

This policy provides minimal guidelines on the approval and processing of large volume mailings, though individual administrative areas may apply more restrictive rules on the frequency, acceptable purposes and recipients of any campus communication.

This policy is primarily for use by internal mail senders. It provides guidance to, but cannot eliminate or control mass mail or spam generated by individuals or groups outside the University. Requests from external entities to use the UI e-mail system will be subject to the same approval procedures as internal mailers. In addition, a fee for use of the University e-mail system may be charged. Any faculty, staff or student who initiates mail from off-campus, will be accountable under both this policy and the policy on “Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources”.

University persons with large numbers of e-mail addresses in their possession at the time of adoption of this policy should consult with ITS regarding replacement of existing files with enterprise directory access.

Scope:

This policy applies to large volume e-mail (mass e-mail) and is compliant with the State of Iowa Public Records law. The policy specifically covers:

  1. Campus-hosted, self-subscribed mailing lists.

  2. Large volume mailings from outside the University domain addressed to University staff, faculty or students.

  3. Large volume mailings originating within the campus addressed to campus individuals or groups.

  4. The minimal requirements which must be met for a mailer or mailing to comply with this policy.

  5. Process for approval of “subject” categories for all e-mail messages. Categorization of mailings allows recipients to set mass mail preferences, whether it be via e-mail client filtering, or other preference setting services.

Required Content for Mass E-mail Messages

All University of Iowa mass e-mail messages must include a clear indication that the sender is an on-campus individual or group, to whom a reply can be easily generated.

The UI Mass E-Mail Service will include two pieces of information with each distribution.

  1. One of the approved categorical codes will appear on the subject line, which can then be used by campus recipients to organize or filter their e-mail messages.

  2.  A notice that this message has been approved under the University’s “Mass E-mail Policy”, including the URL of the “Mass Mail Policy”, so that the receiver can adjust his or her personal mail filters for future mailings.

Targeted Mass Electronic Mailings

Targeted group e-mail lets you send a single message to a specific group of people, such as faculty, staff, or students, who can be identified based on characteristics in the enterprise directory or other institutional database.

  1. The President of the University and members of the Vice Presidents Group may send mass e-mails to faculty, staff and/or students at their discretion, although notification of the appropriate Vice President and that Vice President’s designee is recommended as a courtesy.
  2. Leaders of the Faculty Senate, the Staff Council, and the Student Government may send mass e-mails to their particular constituent group at their discretion. They must obtain permission from the appropriate Vice President to send mass e-mails to other audiences.
  3. Faculty and staff may request this service, with the approval first of their department chair, and then the Provost or Senior Vice President and Treasurer, as appropriate.
  4. Recognized student organizations may request this service with the approval of the Vice President for Student Services.
  5. Faculty and staff organizations may request this service with the approval of the Vice President of the departmental sponsor.
  6. Academic-related mailings to less than 2000 students may be approved by the Registrar.
  7. Time-critical messages may bypass some steps in this process provided permission has been granted by the President or appropriate Vice President.
  8. Service messages that are directed to the customers of that service are exempt from this policy. These messages are sent at the discretion of the service owner.

Responsibility for Processing and Administration

Those responsible for the processing of requests and the administration of this policy are listed below:

Mail Sender

  1. Read and understand the requirements and process of this policy.

  2. Develop the content of the message.

  3. Develop a desired audience description and estimated size. Use the guidelines to determine if e-mail is the best choice for sending your message.

  4. Submit a “Request for Large Volume Mailing” to the V.P. responsible for the individual or group originating the message, or to Vice President for University Relations for external requests.

  5. Obtain the approval of one or more of the following based on the intended audience and message:

    1. Vice President for Student Affairs
      • All mass mailings to students
      • Mailings to selected students about activities or student organizations
    2. Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
      • Mailings to selected students about academic matters, financial aid matters, or university admission
    3. Provost
      • Mailings to faculty
    4. Senior Vice President for Finance and Treasurer
      •  Mailings to staff, affiliates, and retiree
     
  6. Mailings directed at more than one audience must be approved by each responsible V.P.  
  7. Submit the fully approved request to ITS Mass Mail Service.
  8. Submit the electronic message to ITS Mass Mail Service at least one week (7 days) before mailing date.

ITS Mass Mail Service Provider

  1. Receive the “Request for Mass Electronic Mail.”

  2. Review for all necessary signatures.

  3. Retrieve current e-mail addresses from enterprise directory.

  4. Submit message, including category keyword and approval notice, to the mass-mail server for a controlled release of the messages over time.

  5. Monitor the campus e-mail system for any problems resulting from a large volume of messages.

  6. Retain copy of approval.

Mail Recipient- Faculty, Staff

  1. Set filters rules on your desktop mail client.

  2. Review mail and respond to sender, if desired. If there appears to be any exception to this policy, send an e-mail note to its-email@uiowa.edu.

Mail Recipient - Student

  1. Set e-mail preferences (filter rules) using the links on ISIS on the Web.

  2. Review mail and respond to sender, if desired. If there appears to be any exception to this policy, send an e-mail note to its-email@uiowa.edu.

Enforcement

It is the intent of this policy to provide guidance and documentation on how to best use the University’s mass e-mail procedures. Failure of University faculty, staff or students to follow these processes may result in interruption of mail messages, loss of your mailing privilege and/or fees assessed for the cost of correcting any problems.

Faculty, staff and students are to use this process rather than requesting electronic address data files. However, if you request and are granted the use of the data in lieu of this process, the data may not be sold, copied or distributed for other than its intended purpose. Failure to protect the data is covered by the “Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources” policy, including the sanctions defined therein.

Mail Originating Outside the University

To protect the integrity of the University’s e-mail infrastructure, anti-spam and anti-virus filters are used to delete, reject, or quarantine messages that are determined to have high probability of containing spam or viruses. All e-mail messages originating outside the University are subject to these filters.

Failure to become aware of these procedures and follow them by individuals outside the University may result in interruption of messages and fees for the cost of correcting any problems associated with a large mailing, or other penalties.

Related Policies, References and Attachments:

This collection of University of Iowa Information Technology policies and procedures contain acceptable use, security, networking, administrative, and academic policies that have been developed to supplement and clarify University of Iowa policy.

 They are incorporated into the University of Operations Manual (http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/index.html) by reference, per the Policy on Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources (http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/ii/19.htm)

  1. Mass Mail Best Practices

  2. Subject Categories for Mass E-mail Messages

  3. Mass E-mail Service Web Site

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