St. Lawrence University: Policies

MASS DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION

St. Lawrence University Campus-wide Goals & Policies

I. GOALS

Our goal is to establish policies and procedures for inclusive communications that support a campus community whose members feel well informed, involved in process, and valued.

We also wish to construct policies and procedures that are environmentally sensitive and cost-effective, reducing, to the extent possible, costs for supplies and staff efforts.

This community is comprised of groups of people with different levels of access to alternative information media, different levels of interest in information and different perspectives to share. An information distribution plan should consider these complexities.

II. DISTRIBUTION POLICIES

A. Distribution methods

We have two primary methods of information distribution: electronic and campus mail. We add additional methods as needed: some emergency situations will benefit from broadcast voice mail, some circumstances warrant posters, some allow Web postings. A combination of these methods usually is employed to assure appropriate coverage.

B. Audiences

Current students. All have access to an email account, to a personal campus phone account, to the Web and to a campus mailbox. Some may choose not to avail themselves of these options.

Faculty. All have access to an email account, to a personal campus phone account, to the Web and to a departmental mailbox. Some may choose not to avail themselves of these options.

Staff. Most staff have access to an email account, to a personal campus phone account, and to the Web. A smaller number of staff, such as non-exempt employees in Dining services or Facilities Operations, part-time coaches and adjunct faculty) have none of these options, but rely on public or departmental options and spaces, such as a departmental mailbox, bulletin board postings, and supervisor communications to receive information.

Part-time undergraduate students and full-time and part-time graduate students. They can access any of the electronic options cited above, but do not receive mail at the CMR. Most get their mail at their home or at a USPS post box.

C. Types of Information

1. Official. Official information is defined for this purpose as those messages that come from the President, or on behalf of the President, or from a Senior Staff officer, or from the University communications office, citing fact-checked information about University policies, activities and programs.

Official Presidential and Senior Staff information can be emergency (i.e.: safety), urgent (i.e.: the death of a member of our community) or routine (new or updated campus policies). Official information from the University communications office includes the Scarlet Letter, the St. Lawrence magazine and the New Light newsletter, in addition to an occasional memo sent on behalf of the President or senior staff member, with agreement.

2. Departmental or Program. This information derives from an individual campus department or program and relates to the sender’s University role. Such information can range from dining hall menus to gallery exhibition announcements to departmental newsletters to petitions about University issues to new courses. The key determinant is the connection to the official, educational mission of the University.

3. Student Press. This category of publication includes the Hill News, The Stump, the Laurentian and other literary or journalistic publications, for example.

4. Student Club, Team or Organization. This information comes from recognized groups of students, offering events, programs or opinions on topics that relate to their respective mission and that could include non-members. Invitations to Outing Clubs events, community service programs of teams or Greek chapters, and Thelmo minutes: these are but a few of the types of materials that could be sent in the various formats outlined above.

5. Personal. At times, any member of the community wants to share information with others. Someone may wish to sell a vehicle, rent a house, offer or request a ride, advertise a garage sale, communicate about a service venture of a community organization to which they belong, or send information for other purposes unrelated to their roles as a student or employee. Such information should be sent electronically and may NOT be sent on the listserves maintained for official University business. Personal announcements will not be distributed by the CMR unless they are explicitly addressed to individual recipients or to departmental offices.

D. Distribution Policy and Procedures

It is the policy of the University that all members of the community should be able to access information in a timely way. All communications will be distributed in a manner that minimizes environmental damage and costs to the University, including both labor and out-of-pocket expense. The preferred method of communication is electronic. All official communications (described below) will be sent via the University’s email system.

No mail will be placed in a CMR mailbox unless it is labeled with both the recipient’s name and CMR number or is an official University communication, as described below, or a student publication, also described below.

1. Official communications

a. Employees can expect to read all official communications (described above) on the SLUEMPLOYEE listserve of the University’s email system and in the weekly Scarlet Letter newsletter, published in electronic and print format during the academic year.

b. Paper copies shall be made available to employees who lack access to electronic mail (approximately 165 individuals as of this writing). Departments sending communications may elect to distribute either

(1) via campus mail using individually-specific address labels, or

(2) by sending print copies to supervisors of employees without email and having those supervisors post notices on departmental bulletin boards, or

(3) sent to departments in bulk to be distributed to employees by supervisors (originators must prepare and address the bulk mailing—this service is not offered by the CMR).

c. A current report of the numbers of employees in each department is available from the Human Resources office x5596. Human Resources will provide mailing labels for individual employees at campus addresses with one day’s notice.

2. Student-generated communications

a. Print copies of student press materials (Hill News, The Stump, Ujaama, or other literary or news publications created by an organization) may be made available in the following ways:

(1) The student organization may place materials in public pick-up points around campus, such as lobbies in academic, athletics, administrative and residential buildings.

(2) Distributed in bulk to departments via campus mail using addressed envelopes or securely wrapped and addressed bundles (originators must prepare and address the bulk mailing—this service is not offered by the CMR). Bulk mail will be delivered to departmental support staff or supervisory staff for distribution to individuals in each department according to each department’s protocol.

(3) Placed in students’ CMR mailboxes without addresses.

b. Other student-generated materials: flyers, open invitations, or brochures, will be made available at pick-up points cited above in a(1).

3. University administrative and academic departmental communications

a. Administrative and academic departments are encouraged to submit announcements to the Scarlet Letter or to use the facstaff listerve for University-related communications. Offices with print materials may distribute them as follows:

(1) via campus mail using individually-specific address labels, labels provided by Human Resources with one day’s notice, or

(2) posted on bulletin boards maintained by the University in areas accessible to employees, or

(3) sent to departments in bulk to be distributed to employees by supervisors (originators must prepare and address the bulk mailing—this service is not offered by the CMR). Human resources can supply the count for bulk mailings, each department is responsible for generating its own labels for bulk mailings.

b. Exceptions to these guidelines may be proposed to the vice president responsible for the document. The vice president will discuss distribution methods with the VP for Information Technology.

4. Guidelines for E-Mail

a. These listerves may be used to distribute information electronically:

(1) SLUEMPLOYEE is the listserve for official University information. All employees who have e-mail access receive messages through this listserve. Selected offices with responsibility for official information may send messages through this option: The President’s Office, University Communications, Human Resources, Information Technology, Security, Dean’s Office, Business Office, International Programs, University Advancement, Security, Administrative Operations. SLUEMPLOYEE is updated as Human Resources communicates staff changes to Information Technology, at least monthly and often more frequently.

(2) FACSTAFF is the listserve that all employees may use to disseminate University-related information. Employees may opt out of FACSTAFF if they wish by calling Information Technology. All employees with e-mail accounts and who choose to remain connected to FACSTAFF will receive messages through FACSTAFF. Students may not access FACSTAFF directly, but may request that an employee at the employee’s discretion forward a message. FACSTAFF may be used for non-business related messages, as long as messages are courteous and legal. FACSTAFF is updated as Human Resources communicates staff changes to Information Technology, at least monthly and often more frequently

(3) FACULTY is a listserve that those employees with faculty status may use to send and receive messages meant only for faculty. FACULTY is updated as Human Resources communicates staff changes to Information Technology, at least monthly.

(4) SLUSTUDENT is the new official announcement listserv for all students, undergraduate and graduate, access will be limited to certain offices responsible for University-wide official information. For messages to go to all students we can have another topic (or several). To keep the announcements to each class year and graduates, we use topics. Students are subscribed to the appropriate topic -- i.e. a senior is subscribed to the SLUSTUDENT list with topic 2003. All email to go to that class year would be sent to the SLUSTUDENT list with 2003: as the beginning of the subject line.

For example, with an official message about tuition increases that is sent to all students, the topic line can be simply Tuition Increases. However, an official message that is sent about major declaration to sophomores would have a topic line that reads 2006: Major Declaration

We also have Class Listserves for unofficial communications to and among students. The incoming class of first-year students will be on a class listserve by June preceding their matriculation. Listserves for alumni are not accessible at this time.

Messages sent to SLUSTUDENT and Class listserves are filtered to protect students from solicitation messages.

To send a message to a class listserve, simply type “Class of (200x)” and the complete address will appear.

The university e-mail system to students transmits ASCII text and removes all formatting. Elaborately designed e-mails not only take up great quantities of storage space but are not delivered in the manner they are sent. Avoid images.

b. Email size is limited to 25 kb (about two pages of text). All of the listserves are set to prevent attachments as well.

III. CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS

Rene Murphy
Director of Technical Services
Campus Phone – 5595
E-mail -- rmurphy@stlawu.edu

Policies Page	MASS DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION St. Lawrence University Campus-wide Goals & Policies I. GOALS Our goal is to establish policies and procedures for inclusive communications that support a campus community whose members feel well informed, involved in process, and valued. We also wish to construct policies and procedures that are environmentally sensitive and cost-effective, reducing, to the extent possible, costs for supplies and staff efforts. This community is comprised of groups of people with different levels of access to alternative information media, different levels of interest in information and different perspectives to share. An information distribution plan should consider these complexities. II. DISTRIBUTION POLICIES A. Distribution methods We have two primary methods of information distribution: electronic and campus mail. We add additional methods as needed: some emergency situations will benefit from broadcast voice mail, some circumstances warrant posters, some allow Web postings. A combination of these methods usually is employed to assure appropriate coverage. B. Audiences Current students. All have access to an email account, to a personal campus phone account, to the Web and to a campus mailbox. Some may choose not to avail themselves of these options. Faculty. All have access to an email account, to a personal campus phone account, to the Web and to a departmental mailbox. Some may choose not to avail themselves of these options. Staff. Most staff have access to an email account, to a personal campus phone account, and to the Web. A smaller number of staff, such as non-exempt employees in Dining services or Facilities Operations, part-time coaches and adjunct faculty) have none of these options, but rely on public or departmental options and spaces, such as a departmental mailbox, bulletin board postings, and supervisor communications to receive information. Part-time undergraduate students and full-time and part-time graduate students. They can access any of the electronic options cited above, but do not receive mail at the CMR. Most get their mail at their home or at a USPS post box. C. Types of Information 1. Official. Official information is defined for this purpose as those messages that come from the President, or on behalf of the President, or from a Senior Staff officer, or from the University communications office, citing fact-checked information about University policies, activities and programs. Official Presidential and Senior Staff information can be emergency (i.e.: safety), urgent (i.e.: the death of a member of our community) or routine (new or updated campus policies). Official information from the University communications office includes the Scarlet Letter, the St. Lawrence magazine and the New Light newsletter, in addition to an occasional memo sent on behalf of the President or senior staff member, with agreement. 2. Departmental or Program. This information derives from an individual campus department or program and relates to the sender’s University role. Such information can range from dining hall menus to gallery exhibition announcements to departmental newsletters to petitions about University issues to new courses. The key determinant is the connection to the official, educational mission of the University. 3. Student Press. This category of publication includes the Hill News, The Stump, the Laurentian and other literary or journalistic publications, for example. 4. Student Club, Team or Organization. This information comes from recognized groups of students, offering events, programs or opinions on topics that relate to their respective mission and that could include non-members. Invitations to Outing Clubs events, community service programs of teams or Greek chapters, and Thelmo minutes: these are but a few of the types of materials that could be sent in the various formats outlined above. 5. Personal. At times, any member of the community wants to share information with others. Someone may wish to sell a vehicle, rent a house, offer or request a ride, advertise a garage sale, communicate about a service venture of a community organization to which they belong, or send information for other purposes unrelated to their roles as a student or employee. Such information should be sent electronically and may NOT be sent on the listserves maintained for official University business. Personal announcements will not be distributed by the CMR unless they are explicitly addressed to individual recipients or to departmental offices. D. Distribution Policy and Procedures It is the policy of the University that all members of the community should be able to access information in a timely way. All communications will be distributed in a manner that minimizes environmental damage and costs to the University, including both labor and out-of-pocket expense. The preferred method of communication is electronic. All official communications (described below) will be sent via the University’s email system. No mail will be placed in a CMR mailbox unless it is labeled with both the recipient’s name and CMR number or is an official University communication, as described below, or a student publication, also described below. 1. Official communications a. Employees can expect to read all official communications (described above) on the SLUEMPLOYEE listserve of the University’s email system and in the weekly Scarlet Letter newsletter, published in electronic and print format during the academic year. b. Paper copies shall be made available to employees who lack access to electronic mail (approximately 165 individuals as of this writing). Departments sending communications may elect to distribute either (1) via campus mail using individually-specific address labels, or (2) by sending print copies to supervisors of employees without email and having those supervisors post notices on departmental bulletin boards, or (3) sent to departments in bulk to be distributed to employees by supervisors (originators must prepare and address the bulk mailing—this service is not offered by the CMR). c. A current report of the numbers of employees in each department is available from the Human Resources office x5596. Human Resources will provide mailing labels for individual employees at campus addresses with one day’s notice. 2. Student-generated communications a. Print copies of student press materials (Hill News, The Stump, Ujaama, or other literary or news publications created by an organization) may be made available in the following ways: (1) The student organization may place materials in public pick-up points around campus, such as lobbies in academic, athletics, administrative and residential buildings. (2) Distributed in bulk to departments via campus mail using addressed envelopes or securely wrapped and addressed bundles (originators must prepare and address the bulk mailing—this service is not offered by the CMR). Bulk mail will be delivered to departmental support staff or supervisory staff for distribution to individuals in each department according to each department’s protocol. (3) Placed in students’ CMR mailboxes without addresses. b. Other student-generated materials: flyers, open invitations, or brochures, will be made available at pick-up points cited above in a(1). 3. University administrative and academic departmental communications a. Administrative and academic departments are encouraged to submit announcements to the Scarlet Letter or to use the facstaff listerve for University-related communications. Offices with print materials may distribute them as follows: (1) via campus mail using individually-specific address labels, labels provided by Human Resources with one day’s notice, or (2) posted on bulletin boards maintained by the University in areas accessible to employees, or (3) sent to departments in bulk to be distributed to employees by supervisors (originators must prepare and address the bulk mailing—this service is not offered by the CMR). Human resources can supply the count for bulk mailings, each department is responsible for generating its own labels for bulk mailings. b. Exceptions to these guidelines may be proposed to the vice president responsible for the document. The vice president will discuss distribution methods with the VP for Information Technology. 4. Guidelines for E-Mail a. These listerves may be used to distribute information electronically: (1) SLUEMPLOYEE is the listserve for official University information. All employees who have e-mail access receive messages through this listserve. Selected offices with responsibility for official information may send messages through this option: The President’s Office, University Communications, Human Resources, Information Technology, Security, Dean’s Office, Business Office, International Programs, University Advancement, Security, Administrative Operations. SLUEMPLOYEE is updated as Human Resources communicates staff changes to Information Technology, at least monthly and often more frequently. (2) FACSTAFF is the listserve that all employees may use to disseminate University-related information. Employees may opt out of FACSTAFF if they wish by calling Information Technology. All employees with e-mail accounts and who choose to remain connected to FACSTAFF will receive messages through FACSTAFF. Students may not access FACSTAFF directly, but may request that an employee at the employee’s discretion forward a message. FACSTAFF may be used for non-business related messages, as long as messages are courteous and legal. FACSTAFF is updated as Human Resources communicates staff changes to Information Technology, at least monthly and often more frequently (3) FACULTY is a listserve that those employees with faculty status may use to send and receive messages meant only for faculty. FACULTY is updated as Human Resources communicates staff changes to Information Technology, at least monthly. (4) SLUSTUDENT is the new official announcement listserv for all students, undergraduate and graduate, access will be limited to certain offices responsible for University-wide official information. For messages to go to all students we can have another topic (or several). To keep the announcements to each class year and graduates, we use topics. Students are subscribed to the appropriate topic -- i.e. a senior is subscribed to the SLUSTUDENT list with topic 2003. All email to go to that class year would be sent to the SLUSTUDENT list with 2003: as the beginning of the subject line. For example, with an official message about tuition increases that is sent to all students, the topic line can be simply Tuition Increases. However, an official message that is sent about major declaration to sophomores would have a topic line that reads 2006: Major Declaration We also have Class Listserves for unofficial communications to and among students. The incoming class of first-year students will be on a class listserve by June preceding their matriculation. Listserves for alumni are not accessible at this time. Messages sent to SLUSTUDENT and Class listserves are filtered to protect students from solicitation messages. To send a message to a class listserve, simply type “Class of (200x)” and the complete address will appear. The university e-mail system to students transmits ASCII text and removes all formatting. Elaborately designed e-mails not only take up great quantities of storage space but are not delivered in the manner they are sent. Avoid images. b. Email size is limited to 25 kb (about two pages of text). All of the listserves are set to prevent attachments as well. III. CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS Rene Murphy Director of Technical Services Campus Phone – 5595 E-mail -- rmurphy@stlawu.edu
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