The purpose of this policy is to ensure the proper use of Villanova University’s e-mail system by its students, faculty, and staff. Electronic Mail is a tool provided by the University to complement traditional methods of communications and to improve education and administrative efficiency. Users have the responsibility to use this resource in an efficient, effective, ethical and lawful manner. Use of the University's e-mail system evidences the user's agreement to be bound by this policy. Violations of the policy may result in restriction of access to the University e-mail system and/or other appropriate disciplinary action.

Account Creation

E-mail accounts are created based on the official name of the student, staff, or faculty as reflected in Human Resource, Payroll and Registrar records. Requests for mail aliases based on name preference, middle name, nicknames, etc., cannot be accommodated. The only requests for name change that will be processed are to correct a discrepancy between e-mail account name and official University records, in which case the e-mail account name will be corrected.

Ownership of email data

The University owns all e-mail accounts and all data transmitted or stored using e-mail capabilities.

Personal Use

While incidental personal use of e-mail is acceptable, conducting business for profit using University resources is forbidden.

Privacy

While the University will make every attempt to keep e-mail messages secure, privacy is not guaranteed and users should have no general expectation of privacy in e-mail messages sent through the University system. Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary for the IT staff or other appropriate University officials to access e-mail files to maintain the system, to investigate security or abuse incidents or violations of this or other University policies. Such access will be on an as needed basis and any e-mail accessed will only be disclosed to those individuals with a need to know or as required by law.

Data Retention

Individuals are responsible for saving e-mail messages as they deem appropriate. Messages are automatically purged from folders as follows:

• Inbox - 180 days

• Sent / Sent Items - 60 days

• Trash / Deleted Items - 15 days

• Junk / Junk E-mail - 30 days

Due to finite resources, the University has the right to restrict the amount of user space on the e-mail server as necessary, to revise the above retention policies with appropriate IT Committee approval and advance notice, and to purge and remove e-mail accounts of students who have not registered for a semester.

Data Backup

The email system is backed up on a regular basis as a way of recovering from a systematic loss impacting the entire email system. User files and folders are not backed up individually, and the IT staff cannot accommodate requests to restore these files or folders. While in some cases it may be possible to recover from the accidental deletion of files by a user, this is generally not feasible, and therefore each email user is responsible for backing up individual messages and folders as appropriate.

Expiration of Accounts

Student accounts will remain in effect for as long as the student remains enrolled in the University and for a minimum of one year following graduation. If the student leaves Villanova prior to graduation, the account will be deleted.

Appropriate Use

When using e-mail as an official means of communication, students, faculty and staff should apply the same professionalism, discretion, and standards that they would use in written business communication. Furthermore, students, faculty and staff should not communicate anything via e-mail that would not be prepared to say publicly.

Students, faculty and staff may not disclose University information in e-mail that they are privileged to access because of their position at the University.

Approval and transmission of e-mail containing essential University announcements to students, faculty, and /or staff must be obtained from the recipient organization noted as follows;

• for sending to all faculty, approval from the Vice President of Academic Affairs is required,

• for sending to all staff, approval from the Senior Vice President of Administration is required,

• and sending to all students, approval from the Vice President of Student Life is required.

Use of distribution lists or ‘reply all’ features of e-mail should be carefully considered and only used for legitimate purposes as per these guidelines. In some cases where e-mail messages generate a high number of responses due to the subject matter, it may be appropriate to utilize Villanova discussion boards in lieu of e-mail.

User Responsibility

UNIT maintains the University’s official e-mail system; faculty, staff and students are expected to read e-mail on a regular basis and manage their accounts appropriately. An e-mail message regarding University matters sent from an administrative office, faculty, or staff member is considered to be an official notice. Faculty, staff, or students who choose to use another e-mail system are responsible for receiving University-wide broadcast messages and personal mail by checking the University's official e-mail system, newsgroups, and the University’s World Wide Web Homepage. An alternate method of checking University e-mail is to utilize the Forwarding Feature, which can be set to forward mail to an individual's personal e-mail account.

Sharing of passwords is strictly prohibited. Each individual is responsible for his/her account, including the safeguarding of access to the account. All email originating from an account is deemed to be authored by the account owner, and it is the responsibility of that owner to ensure compliance with these guidelines.

Departmental Accounts

Requests for shared departmental accounts will be accommodated, but require a designation of an account owner, who will administer the addition, deletion, or modification of names within the account, as well as manage the account as per these guidelines. These accounts will be created with an expiration date of 1 year, at which time the owner can request a renewal, which will be granted pending verification of ownership and the member list. Shorter expiration dates will be given where appropriate, such as to accommodate specific time-sensitive needs.

Supported types of shared accounts are designated as:

• Type 1 – This id will be able to receive mail from anywhere on the Internet, but will have no direct reply capability. The group/organization utilizing this type of generic id will have to utilize their own personal mail id to respond to the originators of any mail received by this generic id. Implementation of this type of generic id will require the shared folders feature of Netscape Messaging Server. These accounts will only be granted for SGA or Faculty/Staff recognized activities or organizations with approval fro the faculty advisor of the organization (for SGA).

• Type 2 – This id will be able to receive mail from anywhere on the Internet, and will be able to respond directly to the sender. The generic id will be unable to access any of the predefined mailing groups that exist within the campus environment. Members of the group/organization utilizing this type of generic id will have to utilize WEB mail to read and respond to any mail send to the generic id. The WEB interface will allow users to “sign in” to the generic id utilizing the generic id and their own personal LDAP password. Mail sent from the generic id will not reflect the identity of the responder, but will instead carry the identity of the generic id. Due to security concerns given the anonymous nature of email originating from these types of id’s, no students will be allowed access to Type 2 accounts. If a student is found to have access to these accounts the owner will be notified of the impending removal of the student account. Repeated violations will result in deletion of the type 2 account.

Supported Mail Clients

UNIT will sunset support of iPlanet Messenger Express (Sun Webmail) and Thunderbird over the next few months. University-supported email clients are Outlook 2007 and Outlook Web Access (OWA).  If a problem is encountered with the use of an alternate method, Helpdesk personnel will work with the individual to access e-mail via the supported methods and will verify functionality of the supported environment. The University IT department is continually evaluating tools and technologies and reserves the right to modify the list of supported clients with appropriate notification.

Examples of Inappropriate Use
Any inappropriate e-mail, examples of which are described below and elsewhere in this policy, is prohibited. Users receiving such e-mail should immediately contact the University Department of Public Safety.

• The creation and exchange of messages that are harassing, obscene or threatening.

• The unauthorized exchange of proprietary information or any other privileged, confidential sensitive information.

• The creation and exchange of advertisements, solicitations, chain letters and other unofficial, unsolicited e-mail.

• The creation and exchange of information in violation of any laws, including copyright laws, or University policies.

• The knowing transmission of a message containing a computer virus.

• The misrepresentation of the identity of the sender of an e-mail.

• The use or attempt to use the accounts of others without their permission.

Newsgroups are provided as a service to faculty, staff, and students for posting University-related information. These will be monitored by those responsible for their content; any posted material deemed inappropriate may be removed without prior notification.

SPAM & Virus

Incoming email is scanned for viruses and for messages deemed to be ‘SPAM’, or unsolicited advertisements for products or services sent to a large distribution. Suspected messages are blocked from the user’s inbox. Due to the complex nature of e-mail, it is impossible to guarantee protection against all SPAM and virus infected messages. It is therefore incumbent on each individual to use proper care and consideration to prevent the spread of viruses. In many cases viruses appear to be sent from a friend or coworker, therefore attachments should only be opened when the user is sure of the nature of the message. If any doubt exists, the user should contact the Helpdesk. DO NOT FORWARD THE MESSAGE! SPAM messages, however, can be forwarded to ‘emailspam@villanova.edu’ where they will be added to the filter list.

The policy 'Ethical Use of Information Technology Resources' applies to the use of eMail.