Official Student E-mail Policy: Use of E-mail for Official Correspondence with Students

Policy Number:
SA-500
Effective Date:
September 03, 2001
Applies To:
Students
Responsible Units:
Office of the Registrar
Status:
Active

Purpose and Summary

University Use of E-mail: E-mail is a mechanism for official communication within the University of Arizona. The University has the right to expect that such communications will be received and read in a timely fashion. Official e-mail communications are intended only to meet the academic and administrative needs of the campus community. As steward of official UA communications, the Office of the Registrar is responsible for directing the use of official student e-mail.

Policy

  1. Assignment of Student E-mail Accounts: Official University e-mail accounts are available for all enrolled students. The addresses are all of the form [Name]@email.arizona.edu. These accounts must be activated before the University can correspond with its students using the official e-mail accounts. The Account Program website has been designed for this purpose. The official e-mail address will be maintained in UAccess. Official e-mail addresses will be directory information. As with other directory information, any student may request that their official e-mail address be restricted in its access.
  2. Redirecting of E-mail: If students wish to have e-mail redirected from their official @email.arizona.edu address to another email address (e.g., @aol.com, @hotmail.com, or an address on a departmental server), they may do so, but at their own risk. The University will not be responsible for the handling of e-mail by outside vendors or by departmental servers. Having e-mail redirected does not absolve a student from the responsibilities associated with official communication sent to their @email.arizona.edu account. Information and warnings about forwarding are available at https://it.arizona.edu/service/catmail-student-email
  3. Expectations about Student Use of E-mail: Students are expected to check their e-mail on a frequent and consistent basis in order to stay current with University-related communications. Students have the responsibility to recognize that certain communications may be time-critical. "I didn't check my e-mail," error in forwarding mail, or e-mail returned to the University with "Mailbox Full" or "User Unknown" are not acceptable excuses for missing official University communications via e-mail.
  4. Authentication for Confidential Information: It is a violation of University policies, including the Student Code of Conduct, for any user of official e-mail addresses to impersonate a University office, faculty/staff member, or student. To minimize this risk, some confidential information may be made available only through UAccess Student, which is password protected. In these cases, students will receive e-mail correspondence directing them to UAccess Student, where they can access the confidential information only by supplying their Net ID credentials. The confidential information will not be available in the e-mail message.
  5. Privacy: Users should exercise extreme caution in using e-mail to communicate confidential or sensitive matters, and should not assume that e-mail is private and confidential. It is especially important that users are careful to send messages only to the intended recipient(s). Particular care should be taken when using the "reply" command during e-mail correspondence.
  6. Educational Uses of E-mail: Faculty will determine how electronic forms of communication (e.g., e-mail) will be used in their classes, and will specify their requirements in the course syllabus. This "Official Student Email Policy" will ensure that all students will be able to comply with e-mail-based course requirements specified by faculty. Faculty can therefore make the assumption that students' official @email.arizona.edu accounts are being accessed, and faculty can use e-mail for their classes accordingly.

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