XIV. Broadcast Messages (Voice mail and E-mail)

I. Purpose:

Metropolitan State College of Denver is committed to the use of broad-based electronic communication to improve the efficiency of communication, to reduce environmental (paper) waste, to improve the College’s ability to provide targeted services, and to help build community.

The purpose of this policy is to keep the volume of messages at a reasonable level, focused on College business, and to ensure that electronic lists remain a reliable means of communication at Metropolitan State College of Denver. “Junk messages” broadcast to a wide audience are annoying and may defeat the goal of effective communication using these technologies. They also place undue burden on personnel, server and network resources.

Broad-based electronic communications include broadcast voice mail (“audix”) messages and e-mail postings to involuntary and voluntary mailing lists.

II. Scope

This policy is intended to cover group electronic communication sent via the College voice and e-mail systems. This policy applies to all students, faculty and staff at MSCD.

III. Policy

Voice mail and e-mail that is sent using College-provided systems and services is intended for use for official College business or College-related purposes only. Lists may not be used by individual employees or students to send mass messages of a personal, commercial, fundraising nature, or to advocate for or against a proposition or candidate on the ballot in a state or local election. (See Section IV.: Administration & Implementation.)

A. Involuntary Global and Group E-mail Lists

When the College sends broadcast e-mails, the mailings will be directed to a user’s College-provided e-mail account (username@mscd.edu). Faculty, staff and students are responsible for reading the information contained in all official e-mail messages sent from the College and following the instructions they contain. Failure to use the College’s e-mail resources is not an acceptable excuse for failure to comply with directives sent by the College via e-mail. For more information, see the MSCD “Electronic Communication Policy” at http://www.mscd.edu/policies/ecommunications.htm.

1. Lyris Lists: [All-faculty, All-classified, All-administrators & All-adjunct] Only members of these lists may post to the lists. Permission for non-members to use automated, global mailing lists must be obtained from the appropriate Cabinet Officer or his/her designate or the Office of College Communications. If approved, the appropriate Cabinet Officer or designee must post the message.
2. Portal E-mail and Portal Announcement Lists: The President, the members of the President’s Cabinet, Deans and their designees have the authority to send targeted mailings through MetroConnect to segments of the College community through specialized involuntary electronic mailing lists created from College held data.

When mailing to these lists:

• Cabinet Officers and their delegates are responsible for the content of messages posted to involuntary automated lists. Agents who have been given the authority to post messages to involuntary automated lists by a cabinet member may not further delegate this authority without the express written permission of the appropriate Cabinet Officer.
• Cabinet Officers are responsible for ensuring that the appropriate procedures are in place to review and approve messages prior to posting.
• Those officials with the authority to post to involuntary e-mail and portal announcement lists are responsible for ensuring that their designees receive adequate training, supervision and guidance regarding the appropriateness of content and the use of proper techniques for posting messages.
• Records of broadcast messages must be kept, including sender, recipients and a copy of the message itself.
• Replies will be to the sender or list members only.
  

B. Voluntary Portal Groups and Channels

For departments that need to send notices and information related to area-, department- or discipline- specific events and announcements, communication tools are available within MetroConnect. These tools include Groups and Channels. Both options are voluntary and provide users with the ability to opt-in or out of the group e-mail list or to subscribe to the channel. Faculty, staff and eligible student organizations may use voluntary groups or channels within the portal. The procedure for requesting the creation of a group or channel can be found at http://www.mscd.edu/policies/metroconnect/contentguidelines.pdf. For training documentation on portal Groups, see http://www.mscd.edu/metroconnect/helpdocs/.

C. Voice Messages

The Office of College Communications must approve and transmit any and all broadcast messages via campus phones.

D. Emergency Situations

In emergency situations centralized communications are necessary to ensure that accurate information is being disseminated. During such times all broadcast voice and e-mail messages will be coordinated through the Office of College Communications.

IV. Administration and Implementation:

Accepted Use

Voice mail broadcasts and global mailing lists may be used for announcements and messages concerning:

• emergencies, health and safety;
• College-wide events and deadlines, and notification of the availability of services and/or facilities, aggregating messages where possible;
• matters of policy or processes, including changes in campus policies, procedures, organizations, or departments; or
• timely communication that has direct impact on members of the College community.
• Approved college publications such as @Metro and Metro in the Media.
  

Appropriateness

As a general principle, the larger the number of recipients, the greater the need for establishing that the recipients will find a particular message useful. Questions about appropriateness of a message or audience may be addressed to the appropriate area administration (e.g., campus Registrars for student data). In addition, voice messages require approval from the Office of College Communications. Points to consider when sending a broadcast message include:

• Ensure that the subject of the message is relevant to the audience, is of interest and not repetitive, and relates to list members. (e.g., do not send a message to all employees if the message is applicable only to faculty and students).
• Ensure that the message is clearly worded and not offensive to the recipient.
• Ensure that the message is significant enough that it would be sent even without the ease of e-mail or voicemail. For example, is the message one that would be printed and mailed, or produced in “flyer form” and posted or distributed?
• Consider sending the message through representative groups. For example, in sending a message to Faculty, contact the Faculty Senate, the Academic Vice President, School Dean or Department Chair.
• Consider more efficient mechanisms for dissemination of the information, such as the MetroConnect Event Calendar.
  

Inappropriateness

It is inappropriate to:

• Send mass messages of a personal, commercial or fundraising nature or which advocate for or against a proposition or candidate on the ballot in a federal, state county, city, municipal, school board or special district election.
• Forward chain letters or electronic “petitions,” or to ask recipients to forward messages.
• Send anonymous mailings.
• Solicit support (financial or otherwise) for charity, political parties or candidates, or other special causes not connected with a College effort.
• Send unverified public service announcements (such as virus alerts, unsafe products, lost and found, items for sale, giveaways, etc).
• Include attachments if the information is or can be posted on a College Web site.
  

V. Definitions and Examples:

A. Broadcast voice mail messages: A broadcast (“audix”) voice mail is one that is sent to everyone on the campus phone system.

B. Involuntary E-mail Groups and Mailing Lists are created from College-held data about students, faculty, staff and others. These lists may include, for example, all members of the College community or subsets, such as all faculty, all students, all faculty in a School, students in a particular major or course, etc. Recipients cannot elect to be excluded from these mailings. Two types of groups or lists are available:

1. Lyris Lists: Information Technology (IT) maintains automated mailing lists for large segments of the College community such as all-faculty, all-classified staff, all-administrators and all-adjunct faculty. Only list members and designated College administrators may post to these lists. List members may not post messages on behalf of non-members.
2. Portal E-mail and Announcement Lists: Certain college agents have the ability to post to mailing lists for targeted populations. These agents include the President’s Cabinet, Executive Officers, the Deans, and their designees, as well as the Registrar, Financial Aid Officers and the Human Resources Office.
   

C. Voluntary Portal E-mail Groups and Channels are composed of members (students, faculty and staff) who have chosen to subscribe to such groups or channels within MetroConnect. Postings are directed to all list members. Faculty, staff and eligible student organizations may use voluntary groups or channels within the portal. There are two alternatives for voluntary e-mail and announcement distribution.

1. Portal Groups (See http://www.mscd.edu/metroconnect/helpdocs/).
2. Portal Channel
   For information on how to request a portal group or channel go to: http://www.mscd.edu/policies/metroconnect/contentguidelines.pdf)

VI. Enforcement:

The MSCD HelpDesk should be notified of inappropriate mail by calling 1-877-35AskIT (1-877-352-7548) or visit www.mscd.edu/AskIT. The matter will be referred to the appropriate College official.

Electronic mailing list use is subject to the terms of Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Responsible Use Policy (see: http://www.mscd.edu/~infotech/policies/manual/itpolicy2.htm), as well as other applicable College policy, and Federal or local statutes. Use of mailing lists is also subject to review by internal audit.

Approved June 16, 2004 by the MSCD President’s Cabinet.

[This policy will be reviewed as needed, but particularly when there are significant changes in voice or e-mail systems or policies, and/or underlying information systems or services.]

Note: Portions of this document were taken from similar policies in place at Georgetown University.