The purpose of this university e-mail policy ("policy") as a rule in the Administrative Code is to establish guidelines for use of university electronic mail ("university e-mail") and the associated rights and responsibilities of the users of official Cleveland state university ("CSU" or "university") e-mail accounts and facilities.
Chapter 3344-7 | University Email
| Rule |
|---|
|
Rule 3344-7-02 | Basic policy.
(A) This rule applies to all uses and users of university e-mail. Any user of university e-mail shall comply with all provisions of this rule and also with all other applicable rules of the Administrative Code, university policies, regulations, and procedures, and with applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations. (B) Users of university e-mail whose actions violate this rule or any other university policy or regulation may be subject to revocation or limitation of e-mail privileges as well as other disciplinary action or may be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency and/or regulatory authorities. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-03 | Access to e-mail.
(A) CSU provides university e-mail service for legitimate university-related activities to faculty, students, staff, and other individuals and entities granted e-mail privileges at CSU. The use of university e-mail, like the use of any other university-provided resource and university-related activity, is subject to the requirements of legal and ethical behavior within the university community. (B) A CSU employee e-mail account shall be considered an official means for communicating university business and may, in some cases, be the sole means of communication. Users are expected to read, and shall be presumed to have received and read, all official CSU e-mail messages sent to their CSU e-mail accounts. Users shall be aware that information sent via e-mail or other written communication may be a public record. Furthermore, e-mail transmissions may not be secure, and users shall exercise caution when using e-mail services to communicate confidential or sensitive information. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-04 | CSU e-mail accounts.
(A) Information services and technology ("IS&T") at CSU is the owner of the centralized e-mail directory and provides for creation, management, and distribution of CSU e-mail accounts. (B) Faculty and staff are not permitted to automatically redirect their CSU e-mail account to a non-CSU external (private) e-mail address/account (e.g. yahoo.com, gmail.com, mail.com, etc.) Individual e-mail messages may be forwarded manually to a non-CSU external (private) e-mail address/account. As a public institution of the state of Ohio, CSU shall comply with the Ohio public records act, which provides that an e-mail created by, received by, or coming under the jurisdiction of a public office that serves to document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the university, is a public record. The university shall have access to its records and shall be able to respond to public records requests under the Ohio public records act. (See rule 3344-7-06 of the Administrative Code.) (C) Students may forward their CSU e-mail account to a non-CSU external (private) e-mail address/account, but any student-user who does so expressly assumes all responsibility for delivery beyond the @csuohio.edu domain. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-05 | Acceptable use.
(A) CSU provides university e-mail services for activities and associated administrative functions supporting its mission of learning, discovery, and engagement. Although reasonable personal use of university e-mail by faculty and staff is permitted, university e-mail should be used primarily for university-related educational and administrative purposes. Any use of university e-mail that interferes with university activities and functions or violates rules of the Administrative Code or university policy shall be deemed an inappropriate use of university e-mail. (B) CSU assumes no responsibility for the loss or recovery of personal files or e-mails. Employees are advised that they may not have access to CSU e-mail when they are no longer employed with the university and, thus, could lose access to personal e-mail messages in CSU's e-mail system. (C) Rules and regulations that apply to other forms of communications at the university also apply to e-mail. In addition, the following specific actions and uses of university e-mail are improper: (1) Concealment or misrepresentation of names or affiliations in e-mail messages. (2) Alteration of source or destination address of e-mail messages. (3) Use of e-mail for commercial or private business purposes. (4) Use of e-mail to harass or threaten other individuals. (5) Use of e-mail that violates copyright, libel, or defamation laws. (6) Use of e-mail that violates the code of student conduct or discrimination/harassment rules. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-06 | Public record and privacy.
(A) Any work-related e-mail sent by a faculty member or staff from CSU or residing on CSU e-mail servers may be considered a public record under the Ohio public records act and may be subject to disclosure. (Refer to "public record" as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code) (B) CSU does not monitor the content of e-mail as a routine business practice. The university reserves the right to inspect, copy, store, or disclose the contents of e-mail messages when: (1) Required to comply with the law; (2) Ordered to do so by a court of law; (3) Ordered to do so pursuant to a subpoena or other legally enforceable order; (4) The e-mail or computer file is a "public record" as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code and once CSU receives a valid public records request, CSU shall search computer and e-mail files, as required by the public records law. The faculty or staff member shall be informed, in advance, of such a search; (5) The university has reasonable cause to believe that a "litigation hold" is necessary based upon knowledge of university office of general counsel of the presentment of a claim or of a potential cause of action which has an impact on the university; (6) In the normal operation and maintenance of the university's computer facilities, staff of the information services and technology department (or their staff analogues in other units of the university) inadvertently open or otherwise briefly access an e-mail message or computer file; (7) Emergency entry is necessary to preserve the integrity of the university's computer and network facilities or to preserve public health and safety; (8) Co-workers and/or supervisors need to access an employee's e-mail account used for university business when that employee is absent or unavailable; or (9) The university has reasonable cause to believe that there has been a violation of the law or university policy. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-07 | Mass e-mail messages.
(A) A "mass e-mail" is defined as an e-mail addressed to all CSU e-mail accounts, or to one or more of the following groups: all faculty, all staff, and/or all students. It is important to note that sending a message to members of a club, organization, a group of students or a department or college's staff does not constitute a mass e-mailing. (B) The CSU e-mail system provides the capability to communicate rapidly and widely to internal audiences through mass or broadcast e-mail. Many consider the use of mass e-mails as spam, so this method of communication shall be used carefully and conservatively to maximize the impact of important messages. (C) It is strongly recommended that before choosing a mass e-mail transmission, an employee, a department or campus organization shall first consider using the university's weekly electronic bulletin to distribute electronic messages widely. Once a week, the university posts a message to a web-accessible bulletin board and distributes it at least once in a mass mail digest to students, faculty or staff, or to all three groups. (D) Mass e-mails shall only be used to communicate information that affects a large number of faculty, staff, and/or students. (E) All mass e-mails shall first be approved at the university vice-presidential level. Thereafter, approved mass e-mails shall be forwarded to the "IS&T" help desk at help.desk@csuohio.edu. (F) Mass e-mail content guidelines: (1) Crisis/urgent/emergency announcements such as threats to safety, natural disaster alert, mechanical failures, weather closures or delays, crime alerts, and computer virus alerts. (2) Strategic messages from the president, provost or vice president. (3) Administrative announcements of campus-wide importance that are time critical. (4) Major announcements: major events such as the naming of a new president, vice-president, provost or dean; and major sports announcements such as NCAA tournament appearances. (G) All mass e-mail messages shall be signed with the name of the department sending the e-mail, and preferably the name of the author. Contact information shall be included in the e-mail for responding to questions. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-08 | E-mail retention and disposal.
(A) E-mail stored on official university systems will generally be preserved for no longer than thirty days after deletion by the e-mail user. Log files associated with e-mail messages, which provide a record of actual e-mail transactions, but not the e-mail content, are generally preserved for no longer than ninety days. (B) E-mail users storing messages on CSU servers often have the capability to "archive" e-mail items to files. This effectively allows users to save any e-mail messages for any length of time. The automatic retention and disposal timeframes set forth in paragraph (A) of rule 3344-7-09 of the Administrative Code do not apply to e-mail archives and backups done manually by users. (C) Students may, at their discretion, configure their official CSU e-mail accounts to forward all e-mail to an external e-mail address. Forwarding to an external address prevents messages from being stored on CSU mail servers, but a record of the forwarding transaction is stored in university system logs. (D) Faculty and staff e-mail correspondence and associated documents sent as attachments may be considered official university records, and, as such, may need to be retained longer than the default e-mail retention and disposal. It is the responsibility of the sender and recipient of these e-mail messages to determine the required retention period, to comply with applicable rules of the Administrative Code and with university policies and procedures regarding record retention, and to preserve these e-mail records either electronically or in printed form with all of the associated header and transmission information. (Refer to the university's record retention program manual for more information.) Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-09 | Continuance of e-mail after separation from the university.
(A) For students separating from the university through graduation or other reasons, e-mail accounts/addresses remain active indefinitely, but students are required to forward their account to a non-CSU external (private) e-mail account. (B) University e-mail privileges shall be terminated immediately for any student who is expelled from the university. (C) E-mail privileges may be terminated immediately for an employee who separates employment from the university but who does not have associate of the university status. (D) Faculty and staff members retiring from the university who have emeritus or associate of the university status will have university e-mail service available to them indefinitely, unless they request to have the service discontinued. (E) Faculty who leave the university before retirement may retain their e-mail account and e-mail forwarding for one year from the end of the last term in which they taught. This also applies to adjunct faculty members who teach one course per year, usually in the same term. (F) Some employees have more than one affiliation with the university. A faculty member may also be an alumnus, a staff member may be a student, a staff member may be a part-time faculty member, etc. An employee with multiple roles will receive the account status that gives the individual the maximum benefits, unless CSU, in its sole discretion, determines otherwise. Supplemental Information |
|
Rule 3344-7-10 | Disposition of personal e-mail on the university¿s e-mail system after an employee, current student or retiree¿s death.
(A) Except for CSU e-mail accounts assigned to students, all e-mail messages contained in an e-mail account provided by the university are the property of the university and, therefore, the taxpayers of the state of Ohio. As such, they are subject to the requirements of the Ohio public records act and the university's records retention program and may not be available to an employee or retiree's estate after death. (B) Requests for the e-mail of a deceased student shall be considered when accompanied by a notarized statement from the executor, administrator, or next of kin of the deceased approving the release of the e-mails. Supplemental Information |