Butler Community College E-mail Policy

For details regarding the following items, please refer to the full policy document, located in the Information Services office and on the web or direct questions to the Chief Information Officer.

Butler Community College encourages the use of electronic mail and respects the privacy of users. It does not routinely inspect, monitor, or disclose electronic mail without the holder’s consent. However, college employees should realize the following:

Electronic mail, whether or not created or stored on Butler Community College equipment, may constitute a college record and can be subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act or other laws, or as a result of litigation. (The policy applies only to electronic mail in its electronic form, not to printed copies of electronic mail. )

Users should be aware that, during the performance of their duties, network and computer operations personnel and system administrators need from time to time to observe certain transactional addressing information in order to ensure proper functioning of the system. In those situations, they may inadvertently see the contents of email messages.

Also, if there is substantial reason to believe that violations of the law or of Butler policies have taken place, contents of email may be inspected, monitored, or disclosed without the user’s consent. The Chief Information Officer, unless emergency circumstances exist, must approve these inspections, in advance and in writing.

Electronic mail systems and services are Butler Community College facilities as that term is used in other policies and procedures of Butler, and with normal standards of professional and personal courtesy and conduct.

Access to Butler electronic mail services is a privilege, and as such may be wholly or partially restricted without prior notice and without the consent of the email user under certain circumstances.

Butler electronic mail services are to be utilized in support of the teaching, research, public service mission of Butler Community College, and the administrative functions that support this mission.

Services shall not be provided in competition with commercial services to individuals or organizations outside the college.
Services may not be used for:

• Unlawful activities.
• Commercial purposes not under the auspices of the college.
• Personal financial gain.
• Personal use inconsistent with the acceptable personal purposes listed below.
• Uses that violate other Butler policies or guidelines as they apply to intellectual property, sexual or other forms of harassment, and others.
• Activities which directly or indirectly interfere with Butler operation of computing facilities or electronic mail services, burden the college with noticeable incremental cost, or interfere with the email user’s employment or other obligations to Butler Community College.

These activities include, but are not limited to:

• Sending and forwarding chain letters.
• Spam (exploiting list services, etc. beyond their intended scope).
• Letter bombs (resending the same email repeatedly to one or more recipients to interfere with the recipient’s use of email).
• Sending anonymous email messages
• Relaying email to servers outside of the accepted email system (Pipeline).

Violations of this policy may result in restriction of access, or disciplinary action (up to and including dismissal).

For more detailed information and policy regarding mailbox limits, etc. please refer to the full text of the policy located in the Information Services office or on the web. For further clarification of the policy, send email to the Chief Information Officer or call the Information Services office.

Revised 08/05