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Guidelines for Faculty, Staff, and Student E-Mail "Announcements"
(Revised January 2007)

The following are guidelines for the use of campus e-mail to distribute general e-mail announcements sent to faculty, staff, and students. These guidelines are in support of and directly related to the existing Policy on Use of Computing and Communications Technology, Executive Memorandum 07-01. .

PURPOSE

The purpose of general daily "Campus Announcements" is to provide the campus community with a reliable and timely way to send and receive information about university people, programs, activities, and business. "Campus Announcements" allows the university to send a single e-mail notice that contains timely and relevant campus information and so reduce the number of individual e-mail messages sent over the campus e-mail system.

The purpose of "Student Announcements" is to provide student organizations, faculty, and staff a way to broadcast campus events and opportunities to students.

The purpose of separate e-mails sent to all faculty and staff from the "Announce" e-mail account is to broadcast to the campus community information authorized by Public Affairs and Publications or deemed critical university business of an urgent nature. Given the nature of messages that need to be sent individually, separate e-mails sent to all faculty and staff from the "Announce" e-mail account may not be held to the same word limit and content restrictions as Campus Announcements and Student Announcements. See "Criteria" below.

Reducing unwanted and unsolicited e-mail is a challenge on our campus, as it is everywhere. One way we can reduce it is by sending messages to only those who need to receive them. Please do not create large e-mail lists by selecting groups or individuals in the campus global e-mail directory. When you have a message pertaining to university business that you would like to share with most or all faculty and staff, send your e-mail to announce@csuchico.edu. Public Affairs and Publications will include your message on the next Campus Announcements. When you have an urgent message to get out separate from Campus Announcements, please call ext. 4143.
 

CRITERIA

All announcements contributed by members of the campus community will be reviewed by Public Affairs and Publications in advance of posting to ensure that the content of each announcement meets the following criteria. 

1. Content must:
   • comply with the acceptable use policy (EM 97-18)
   • qualify as university-related information/business, which means that an event mentioned in the notice must be sponsored by a university office, program, or officially recognized student, staff, or faculty organization (e.g., while an event sponsored by a local charity is clearly valuable, the university is not permitted to use its resources to promote that event unless it is co-sponsored by a university program).
   • have relevance to a broad base of faculty or staff or students
   • contain contributor's name and e-mail address
   • be limited to 200 words or fewer and include Web addresses/links when possible to  reduce text of  the message and the impact on the campus e-mail system 
   • adhere as necessary to News Release Guidelines and Web Page Publishing Guidelines as listed in the Publication Guide for California State University, Chico.
2. Content cannot contain:
   • public debate or personal opinion
   • political statements, endorsements or fund raising
   • personal items for purchase/rent or sought for purchase/rent
   • advertisements, announcements, or promotions for outside organizations or non-university-related events or concerns.

Campus Announcements:

1. Under the direction of Public Affairs and Publications, "Campus Announcements" are distributed to faculty and staff around noon each day the campus is open. Contributions for that day must be received by 11:00am in the "Announce" e-mail account. “Campus Announcements” will be distributed between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. each work day.
   
2. To send a notice to "Campus Announcements," type your information into a new e-mail message and then, in the "TO" box, type "Announce."  When the "Check Names" dialog box comes up, choose Announce.  When you click "Send," your notice will be sent to the Announce account.  Please do not include special formatting or enclosures.
3. Public Affairs and Publications will not alter content without the contributor's consent except for grammar and punctuation errors. When questions of clarity, accuracy, or appropriateness of the message arise, Public Affairs and Publications staff will hold the announcement for the following day while they contact the contributor for clarification.
4. Contributors may post the same notice only once each week, and they must re-submit the notice each time they would like it to be posted.
5. Public Affairs and Publications places the notices into five categories of News, Events, General Information, Human Resources and Workshops. The order of the notices within these categories is determined by the software program based on the time the notice is received in the Announce e-mail account.
6. Individual faculty, staff, and students may not send general announcements to campus without prior permission or review by Public Affairs and Publications.
7. For announcements to select faculty and staff groups (e.g. FAS users), users are encouraged to use specific e-mail distribution lists. Creation of these distribution lists can be coordinated through Computing Services. (NOTE: Procedures for the use of distribution lists for select groups of students is covered in Guidelines for Student Distribution Lists on WildCat E-Mail System.) 
    

1. In an effort to make "Student Announcements" more accessible and easier to read, "Student Announcements" is now on the Web, and the "Student Announcements" e-mail will be sent once a week, rather than every other week.
   The online version of "Student Announcements" is complete with a table of contents and links to individual categories. These announcements provide useful information -- job opportunities, deadlines, upcoming events, etc. A table of contents is sent to students via e-mail each week. The "Student Announcements" Web page is updated every Friday throughout the academic year.
2. To send a notice to "Student Announcements," type your information into a new e-mail message and then, in the "TO" box, type studentannounce@exchange.csuchico.edu. When you click "Send," your notice will be sent to the Student Announce account and included in the next "Student Announcements." Please do not include special formatting or enclosures.
3. Public Affairs and Publications edits notices for length and clarity, and sorts them into categories.
4. Notices are limited to on-campus organizations, events, and concerns. They cannot contain the following:
   • public debate or personal opinion
   • political statements, endorsements or fund raising
   • personal items for purchase/rent or sought for purchase/rent
     
   • advertisements, announcements, or promotions for outside organizations or non-university-related events or concerns.

All Announce-Restricted, All Faculty-Restricted, All Staff-Restricted:

1. Public Affairs and Publications can send a notice campuswide as "All Announce-Restricted" if the notice is deemed  critical university business of an urgent nature. Examples of critical university business include campus safety issues, urgent Human Resources deadlines, and serious computer network problems. In addition to Public Affairs and Publications, a limited number of offices, such as Facilities Management Services and University Police, have the ability to send a notice as "All Announce-Restricted."  
2. To have a notice sent campuswide, call Public Affairs and Publications at 898-4263 or 898-4143.
3. "All Faculty-Restricted" and "All Staff-Restricted" lists are also available if the notice is critical university business of an urgent nature. For more information, call Public Affairs and Publications at 898-4263 or 898-4143.

SUMMARY

Campus Announcements are the preferred method for broadcasting information because they are distributed to all faculty and staff in a reliable and timely way, and do not overload the campus communication system.

Student Announcements are regularly distributed once a week to students throughout the semester. While all students are encouraged to use their Wildcat e-mail accounts, some choose to use outside providers and do not forward their campus account, so we cannot guarantee that every student will view the Student Announcements every week.

Campuswide announcements are sent on a case-by-case basis and reserved for critical university business of an urgent nature. Contact Public Affairs and Publications, 898-4143, for more information.