NEW POLICY FOR CAMPUS E-MAILS TAKES EFFECT

A new Web-based application that enables faculty and staff to send announcements to the University community has been developed and was implemented October 1. This application enables users to post announcements to the University community as part of one e-mail sent daily to all faculty and staff. Each announcement will have a headline with a link directing the reader, at his or her option, to more specific information about the subject.

This initiative is in response to the growing number of faculty and staff e-mails that are being sent in violation of university policy and addresses concerns that a number of individuals have expressed regarding the receipt of unwanted messages. This new procedure will reduce the number of such e-mails to only one per day. Exceptions will be made when the President or Vice Presidents need to send a separate announcement to the University community (e.g., inclement weather or other emergency notifications, important budget updates, etc.).

This Web-based application will be available to all faculty and staff via the Faculty and Staff Web page beginning October 1. To post an announcement, individuals must click on the link to "University Announcements" and sign in using their Lotus Notes ID and Internet Password (the password used when accessing Notes from the Web). Users will have the option of posting an announcement for up to 3 consecutive days, and will be able to include links to related Web pages as well as add attachments and graphics to their messages. With the implementation of this new system, the "Faculty & Staff" e-mail address will no longer be available.

Announcements posted under this new procedure should be relevant to the University community and not of a personal nature.

University Policy 3505, "Use of Electronic Mail for Campuswide Announcements," will be revised after October 1 to reflect the implementation of this new system. In the meantime, faculty and staff should refer to the existing policy before sending any e-mails addressed to "faculty and staff." The policy can be found at:

http://web.odu.edu/webroot/orgs/ao/po/polnproc.nsf/files/3505.pdf/$FILE/3505.pdf

For questions or comments, please contact the Vice President for Administration and Finance (3-3072), or the Vice President for Institutional Advancement (3-3152).