Mass Email Policy

Mass e-mails are intended solely to communicate to student, faculty and staff important information regarding academic, college and student business. This policy must be read and acknowledged before being able to utilize the large distribution lists on the e-mail system. Messages impacted by this policy are defined as any message that reaches at least 25% of the college community.

Specifically, mass emails should not be used for:

  • Mailings not related to college business or activities.
  • Mailings in violation of the college’s Responsible Use policy.
  • Political statements, expression of personal opinion, conduct of personal business, unauthorized fundraising or solicitation (solicitation is defined as any verbal or written effort to raise funds through the sale of merchandise/services or through charitable donations as well as to influence opinions or to gain support for an issue or cause).
  • Notices of routine, regularly scheduled events. These sorts of events should be communicated through the College Communications department.  Some leeway will be granted for newly organized events, however long standing events should not be continuously advertized thru mass e-mails .
  • Lost and found messages.  All lost and found items should be brought to Campus Safety, who, if the situation merits may send a message.
  • Repeated Messages. Sending multiple versions of the same message, either as a reminder, follow-up or as a correction for inaccurate information is considered a violation depending on the circumstances – please review your messages very carefully before sending them. Messages may be repeated ONLY in the following manner: One week or more in advance of the event in question and one the day before or the day of the event.  

If you are at all in doubt if your e-mail will violate policies please contact the Information Technology offices prior to sending the message, they in turn may consult with either the Academic Affairs office or Student Affairs office.

Students may not send mass e-mails directly, recognized student organizations that wish to send messages will be provided with an e-mail account that they may use to send messages to the campus community; each semester an officer of the organization must acknowledge this policy in order to be able to send messages to the campus community.

Guidelines for Mass Emails

Mass email messages would contain university business such as

  • Announcements of campus sponsored events
  • Announcements of official policies or changes in policy
  • Announcements of disruptions or changes in services (i.e., upgrades to campus network, electrical disruptions, registration changes etc.)
  • Announcements from the governance groups (Faculty Senate, Student Government and various campus committees)

All mass email messages must contain the following:

  • Subject line with clearly stated subject
  • From: line that contains email address of the sender;
  • To: line that includes the distribution list to which the email was sent do not use BCC.
  • Signature information that gives name and department of sender
  • Mass email messages should not contain large attachments.  Instead, if required, a link to an appropriate web page that includes the detailed information should be provided by the sender. 
  • Messages advertizing events should clearly contain the Date, Time, Location and Organizing group/organization.

Violation of any these policies will result in a temporary ban on sending mass messages; one violation results in a warning, a second violation results in a semester ban.  All violations are initially determined by the Information Technology department but can be appealed to the Student Affairs or Academic Affairs offices.

To report a mass email you feel has violated these policies please send the report to abuse@ursinus.edu

Circumventing the permissions on distribution lists or sending a mass message by those not authorized to do so may result in judicial action or other sanctions as a violation of the Responsible Use policy.

Information Technology maintains many targeted distribution lists and can assist in creating targeted lists that can reach smaller groups within the college community, including opt-in lists, if messages are required that are explicitly excluded by this policy.


This document created with contributions from the mass email policies of the University of North Dakota, and The University of Oklahoma IT Department and Holy Family University.