Purpose:
This policy is designed to identify and describe the use of electronic mail as an official means of communications to Bridgewater State University (BSU) students.
Policy Statement:
The university provides a BSU user account and email address to all matriculated BSU students and uses email as an official means of sending information to students.
Applies to:
All members of the Bridgewater State University community
Student Responsibilities:
- Students are responsible for activating their BSU user accounts.
- Students are required to access and review BSU email on a frequent and consistent basis in order to stay current with university-related communications.
- Students must be aware of mailbox capacity and ensure that there is sufficient space in their accounts for email to be delivered.
- Students must recognize that certain communications may be time-critical.
- Students may forward email from their official BSU address (student emailaddress@student.bridgew.edu) to another email address at their own risk. The university is not responsible for the handling of email by outside vendors. Information on forwarding email is available from IT Support Services.
- Students will not be held responsible for an interruption in their ability to access a message if the university email system malfunctions or other university system-related problems prevent timely delivery of, or access to, that message (e.g., power outages or email system viruses).
University Responsibilities:
- The Information Technology Division is responsible for implementing and managing this policy and distributing and maintaining official BSU email addresses.
- The content of official communications to students is the responsibility of the originating department or individual.
- The university will select the form of communication best suited to a particular announcement and audience. In some situations email might be the sole form of that communication. Examples of information the university might choose to send to students via email include, but are not limited to, routine announcements, notification of important dates and deadlines, course information from faculty, and official documents (e.g. grade reports, course schedules, bills, etc.).
- The university must ensure that sufficient mailbox space is available for students to receive a reasonable volume of electronic mail.
- The university will not use email to transmit sensitive or confidential information unless its use for such purposes is matched by an appropriate level of security.
- University employees will exercise caution when responding to email sent from an unofficial email address, since there is no way to ensure the identity of the sender. The university will provide generic replies to non-BSU email addresses and will require individuals to send messages for their primary campus email address for a more detailed reply.
- BSU Students will maintain access to their BSU account (Office 365/One Drive/Email)for 1 year after graduating or leaving the University. After 1 year, accounts will be deleted. Please be sure to plan accordingly and back up any needed data before this time.
When using email communication, all members of the university community are expected to abide by all pertinent BSU Information Technology policies including, but not limited to, Responsible Use of Information Technology, Monitoring of Electronic Communications, and the Campus Email Mailing List Policies. Information Technology Policies can be found on the IT Intranet Page.
Approved By: Steve Zuromski, Interim Vice President and Chief Information Officer, June 24, 2019
Updated 8/2019 by Jim Currie, Systems, IT Infrastructure and Operations