Standards, Guidelines and Procedures:
E-mail as an Official Means of Communication with Students
Cal Poly has approved a policy that allows e-mail to be used as an official means of communication to students. The policy was established to enable faculty, staff and administrators to communicate more effectively and efficiently with students.
Messages governed by this policy are directed to specific, targeted student audiences and to convey information about essential student administrative processes such as registration.
Messages sent to all students are subject to additional restrictions based on Cal Poly’s electronic mail and messaging policy.
E-mail as an official means of communication should be used judiciously, as students may disregard e-mail messages if they receive too many, especially if the information does not pertain to them.
This policy is not intended to preclude or limit the day-to-day exchange of information sent via e-mail in the pursuit of legitimate educational goals, particularly between students and faculty. Designating e-mail as an official means of communicating with students provides departments and offices with the option of sending information electronically. Using e-mail for such purposes is at the discretion of the sender and in no way precludes the use of other communication methods.
Academic departments are welcome to adopt this policy. However, such departments may already have successful communication mechanisms, including e-mail, to convey information to student populations. This policy makes e-mail one official means of communication; it is not intended to replace effective communication mechanisms already in place.
Standards, Guidelines and Procedures – Students
Standards, Guidelines and Procedures – Departments
