Communications of various kinds are distributed within the Lafayette community through several channels, including email, web-based calendar, social media, RSS feeds, the campus portal, and the Leopard Alerts emergency notification system. This policy defines “official” and “optional” communications and outlines related guidelines and procedures.
Official policy communications are messages the College administration has determined are important for all members of the campus community, or a certain subset of the community, to receive (e.g, all students, all faculty, or all staff).
Examples include messages related to:
The email accounts of certain administrative units (not individuals within the units) are authorized to transmit official policy communications only to the entire campus or to subsets via email distribution lists maintained for this purpose by Information Technology Services. Units with this authorization are:
Divisions: President’s Office, Provost’s Office, VP for Campus Life, VP for Communications, VP for Development, VP for Finance and Administration, VP for Human Resources and General Counsel, VP for Information Technology Services
Departments and Offices: Alumni Relations, Career Service, Center for Teaching, Learning and Scholarship, Counseling Center, Dean of Students, Dean of the College, Dean of Intercultural Affairs, Dining Services, Financial Aid, Health Services, Library, Parent Relations, Public Safety, Purchasing, Recreation, Registrar, Religious Life, Residential Life, Student Leadership and Involvement, Study Abroad, Williams Center for the Arts
Generally, messages transmitted to campus email distribution lists should not contain attachments. Instead, a link to a webpage providing further information may be included. If an attachment must be included, its file size must not exceed 1Mb.
Individual email accounts are not authorized to transmit communications via the campus distribution lists. In addition, individuals may not use and build their own lists encompassing entire sectors of the campus community, e.g. all students, all classroom faculty, all exempt support staff.
Messages that do not fall into the categories listed above are optional or departmental communications.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Exceptions to the guidelines on optional or departmental communications may be made in certain cases by the provost or a vice president. Once approved, the communication can be sent to the community by following the guidelines for official policy communications listed above.