Mass Email Policy

General Information

Mass emailing involves sending unsolicited email messages to a group of otherwise unrelated campus email addresses. Mass email messages are a useful and convenient way of informing the campus community. However, because they have the potential to unnecessarily consume resources and clutter campus inboxes, the university requires that senders of such messages adhere to usage guidelines.

• Use of campus mass email is subject to SUNY Plattsburgh’s Responsible Use of Technology Policy (See Appendix).

Whether mass email messages are sent by using a personally constructed list of addresses or a system-generated list (i.e., a Digest), there is no difference in the effect or applicability of this campus policy. Recipients of system-generated lists do not have the ability to opt out of this system.

Acceptable Content Criteria

While the ability to send mass emails to some lists is confined to authorized users, all users are obligated to restrict such use to mailings that fit the following criteria:

• Be non-commercial in nature
• Be related to the university’s mission or business functions
• Be issued in text format and adhere to the specific platforms maximum size
• Be as brief as possible and include a link to a web-site or shared Google Drive document if more information needs to be communicated
• If a survey, be approved by Sponsored Research prior to being sent to any email list.

Improper Content

The following types of announcements should not be sent out as mass emails:

• Lost-and-found notices
• Personal statements
• For rent/sale items

Mass Email Lists

The campus maintains several system-generated mass email lists, sent to ListServs targeted to specific groups and Digests.

Digest Lists

These lists send messages once a day after being collected in the system. There are two lists: one for students and one for employees. 

• [email protected] — received as “Employee-Digest.”  This digest feed goes to all active employees of SUNY Plattsburgh (approved faculty and staff can send to this list; other faculty and staff can send to this list and their submissions will be moderated)
• [email protected] — received as “Student-Digest.” This digest feed to all enrolled students (approved faculty, staff and active students can send to this list; other active students, faculty and staff can send to this list and their submissions will be moderated)

Lists Targeted to Select Campus Groups

Several population-defined groups are also maintained in the campus email system. These groups are considered mass email lists, and users must follow acceptable content guidelines, as stated above.

Anyone with a campus email address can post to these groups.  They are not moderated or constrained, nor do they include any branding.

• Auxiliary — Auxiliary Services Employees
• Classified — SUNY Plattsburgh Classified Employees (includes classified M/C and staff represented by CSEA, PEF, and University Police Bargaining Units)
• Emeriti — SUNY Plattsburgh Emeriti
• Faculty — SUNY Plattsburgh Faculty Employees (includes Academic, Professional, and M/C)
• RF — SUNY Plattsburgh Faculty Employees who are part of the Research Foundation
• Union-CSEA — CSEA Union Members
• Union-MC — Management Confidential Staff
• Union-PEF — PEF Union Members
• Union-UUP — UUP Union Members

To send to the lists above, add @plattsburgh.edu to the ending of the listname.

Critical & Emergency Mass Email Lists

Several special mass email lists are reserved solely for critical and emergency alert circumstances. Messages sent to these lists are delivered as quickly as possible.

The digests, critical lists, and emergency lists are tightly controlled. A limited number of authorized users are permitted to send messages to these lists. Messages sent to these lists also include special campus branding and are moderated. All users are obligated to restrict such use to mailings that fit campus criteria. A list of authorized senders can be obtained by contacting the ITS Helpdesk.

These special lists can be viewed on the campus public ListServ at https://ls.plattsburgh.edu. The critical lists are prepended with “Critical-” and the emergency lists are prepended with “Emergency-”. Digest lists are append with “-Digest”

Examples of critical mass emails messages:

• Registration
• Weather policy
• Downtime for major computer systems (e.g. Banner, network, etc.)
• Professional development
• Facilities information regarding heating/water/major construction
• Interviews for candidates @ director level and above
• Campus-wide speakers and events

Examples of emergency mass emails messages:

• Active shooter
• Class cancellations
• State/national/local/, or campus emergencies