Page 57 - Smith College Student Handbook 16-17

Procedures for departments:
Departments are expected to develop internal procedures relevant to their business processes that support compliance with this policy.
Review and approval of internal procedures by the policy Responsible Executive is recommended if questions of compliance or best practices
arise.

Standards and Best Practices for email composition:
In order to promote consistency and professionalism in official communications, and to better ensure that users both read and trust the
messages sent by representatives of the college, adherence to the following guidelines is suggested:

Standards:

 Subject lines should directly state essential message content, avoid misleading or generic subject lines
 provide explicit contact information for recipients’ questions
 is signed at the end with relevant person or departmental information
 is approved by someone with governance authority for the message scope before it is sent out
 is sent only from an @smith.edu email sender address, do not obfuscate sender info
 message content conveys Smith-specific information

Web links in message content: care should be used when including clickable content within email messages, as this is how most phising
email messages attempt to compromise a recipient’s identity or personal information. Whenever reasonable, ensure that URLs are explicit in
the message text; try not to hide link addresses behind alternate clickable text.

Best Practices for email composition :

 provide a specific person by name as sender or as a contact for questions
 use correct grammar, spelling and idiomatic phrases
 be succinct
 Edit : proofread for style, and vet for accuracy
 for distribution lists, send TO: an individual account, and BCC: the list
 send only to recipients directly targeted by the message content
 avoid “alarmist” words or phrases, such as : “your URGENT action is needed”

DEFINITIONS
These definitions apply to terms as they are used in this policy.

Bulk email: Email message content that is sent to a list of more than 25 recipients that is derived or maintained by an
individual or group, and which the recipients did not explicitly agree to receive.

Broadcast email: Email messages sent to an institutionally maintained list (“system list”) of Smith College users, such as all faculty
or a class roster of students, usually from an account with explicit permission to send to that list; recipients
cannot opt out of system lists.

Distribution list email: Email messages sent to a list of users who have explicitly agreed to receive messages pertaining to the distribution
list’s subject or purpose.
Protected information: Generally, Smith institutional information that has specific legal or regulatory compliance restrictions or
protections, such as Social Security Numbers; see the Comprehensive Information Security Program for more
detailed information.

RELATED INFORMATION

Related Policies :

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