Group E-Mail Policy

Policy Purpose
The University of Louisiana at Monroe has implemented this group e-mail policy to improve the effectiveness of e-mail communications to students, faculty, and staff and to ensure group e-mail communication is professional, clear, and relevant. This ULM Group E-mail Policy will be administered and enforced by the University Computing Center and others as selected by the University Computing Center.

Group e-mail is an efficient way to communicate university-related information to a large group of students, faculty and staff. However, when used improperly, the group e-mail system becomes an ineffective and unwelcome communication tool. This policy applies to all e-mail users within the "ulm.edu" domain, including students, faculty and staff.



Group E-Mail Overview
Group e-mail is a feature of ULM's e-mail system which allows users to send e-mail to a select group of recipients. A list of all established e-mail groups is available at ulm.edu/mailman/listinfo.

Some groups, such as employees, faculty, and students, along with select others, may be held up to 24 hours for review, or proctoring. This proctoring process may extend past 24 hours over weekends and holidays. Proctoring is necessary to ensure the e-mail is relevant to university business and directed to the correct group. Any group e-mail not meeting these criteria will be returned to the original sender with information of how to properly author the message.



Who may use Group E-mail
Any ULM faculty, staff or student may submit a group e-mail. However, the originating e-mail address must be from a "ulm.edu" domain. E-mails originating from non "ulm.edu" addresses will not be accepted.

Users should send e-mails on their own behalf, and the content of a group e-mail sent is the responsibility of the owner of the address in the "From:" address line. Faculty and staff should not send group e-mails on a student's behalf, nor should students send e-mails for faculty or staff.



Student Mass E-Mail Process
Student Mass E-Mail is sent out once a week on Monday morning. Each department may submit one e-mail detailing its activities for the week (i.e. one for Aramark, one for Career Connections, one for VAPA, one for Student Life, etc.)

The email must be submitted before 8 a.m. on Monday morning in order to go out for the week and can be submitted as early as mid-week the week before.

Please note that the moderator is unable to edit the email in any way once it enters the queue, so typos and errors must be carefully watched for, else it cause inconvenience and delay for both parties.



Student Mass E-Mail on Behalf of RSOs
Recognized Student Organizations may send a request to be included in the Student Life mass e-mail for the week. RSOs may not send out an individual e-mail to all students.

In order to be included in the Student Life email, the RSO's event must have already been approved through Atlas and must be submitted no later than 3 p.m. the Thursday before the e-mail is to be sent. Failure to meet these requirements will result in not having the event included in the e-mail.

The moderator reserves the right to edit any submissions for inclusion in the Student Life mass e-mail. Send requests to Laura Knotts at knotts@ulm.edu.



Relevance
Group e-mail should be used to communicate with students, faculty, and staff about the university's educational services and business. Information sent must be related to the group being mailed. For example, an e-mail to all employees about changes in the academic calendar would be appropriate. Conversely, e-mailing information which only pertains to budget unit heads should go only to those specifically targeted employees.

Promotion of regularily scheduled events open to the public, i.e., VAPA events, should not use “All Employee” or Group E-mail as reminders of regularly scheduled events. These planned events should use other promotional methods, such as a departmental web site, AXIS-TV, Fant-Ewing Message Board, the ULM Web Calendar, the ULM Weekly News Update, press releases developed in conjunction with the Office of University Relations, as well as advertising, to promote these events. E-mails submitted for regularly scheduled events will not be approved for “All Employees.” 

The timing of your e-mail should be taken into consideration also. For example, an e-mail about a retirement reception for a faculty member should be sent out 48 to 72 hours prior to the event. Sending the e-mail the morning of the event does not guarantee the e-mail will be approved in time.



Subject Lines
A carefully crafted subject line is the key to increasing the chance your e-mail message will be opened and read as opposed to being deleted by the user. Subject lines should be concise and relevant, and should be able to convey the topic of your e-mail message.

Examples of good subject lines:

• Invitation to Retirement Reception
• Friends of the ULM Library Book Sale
• Update on Campus-Wide ID Migration
• Changes in Academic Calendar

Examples of poor subject lines might be:

• Reception
• Books for Sale
• Migration Update
• Date Changes

Inappropriate messages
Examples of unacceptable or inappropriate e-mail messages are as follows and will not be approved:

• Personal or commercial items for sale
• Lost and found items (these items should be reported to University Police)
• Departmental supplies available or needed
• Reminders for events
• Non-ULM related events

Use of embedded graphics and user-generated attachments (Word .doc, PDF, etc.) is not allowed when using the university's group e-mail system. Third-party signatures are considered embedded and should be removed prior to sending the group e-mail. If you send a message with an embedded graphic and/or user-generated attachment, the message will be returned to you with a request the e-mail be rewritten without the graphic and/or the attachment.

In some circumstances, a "server-side" graphic with an absolute link to the graphic may be allowed, but the graphic must reside on a ULM server. Before sending a group e-mail with such a graphic, please contact the Office of University Relations at 342-5440 to discuss your need.

However, by default, the e-mail system may attach a small text file when a group e-mail is sent and will show up in your mailbox as an attachment. This system attachment should not be misconstrued as a user-generated attachment, such as a Word document, Excel file, PDF or other type of attached file.

There are several reasons why file attachments are not allowed. First is the possibility of a computer virus; second is the file size of attachments reduces the amount of server storage dramatically, reducing the mail server's efficiency.



Group E-Mail Tips

• Follow the basics of providing the who, what, when, where and why of your message, as appropriate.
• Allow ample time for messages to be sent. Please allow up to 24 hours (or longer immediately prior to weekends/holidays) for messages to be reviewed.
• Distribute materials such as posters, flyers, etc., through web pages or e-mail directly to those inquiring.
• Be brief and to the point as your message has a better chance of being read if the content of the message is quickly and efficiently displayed.
• Use the ULM web calendar, AXIS TV, or the Fant-Ewing Message Board for posting events and activities.
• Post lengthy e-mail messages to a web page if the text is long and/or extensive use of graphics are involved. Remember to put the web link in your e-mail.
• E-mailing updates of daily follow-ups and/or committees is not appropriate for all employees.
• Know your audience appropriate for your message. Does your e-mail need to be sent to all employees? A list of all established e-mail groups is available at http://www.ulm.edu/campus/mail-lists.html.
• Think in terms of what you receive and actually read when receiving e-mail. Remember what is important to you may be viewed as unnecessary e-mail to others.
• Subject lines should be clear about the contents of the message so your message has a better chance of being read.
• Announce events in a timely manner, usually 48 to 72 prior to the event.
• Review your e-mail for spelling, grammatical errors, correct days/times/location, etc.
• Don't "Forward" or "Reply to All" with group e-mails. If a response is requested, reply directly to the sender only.
• Don't attach files as these e-mails will be returned to you requesting the attachment be removed.
• Let someone else review your message, if possible, before sending. This can reduce the need to send a second "correction" e-mail due to human or content error.

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