GA: 3023, p. 1
MASS ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-MAIL) DISTRUBITION
Scope:
This policy applies to staff and faculty employees of the college employed full or parttime, temporary employees, student assistants, Board of Trustee members, Foundation
board members, or anyone operating on behalf of the college.
Definitions:
Mass e-mail: One electronic message to 100 email addresses or more outside of the
csmd.edu domain. It does not include electronic communications between a faculty
member and his or her students enrolled in a course that relate to academic matters for
that course.
Multiple: The term multiple means more than 100 electronic mail messages during a 24hour period, more than 1,000 electronic messages during a 30-day period, or more than
10,000 during a 1-year period to the same email address.
Everyone Email: Emails that are sent through the college’s email system to employees
of the college. For internal use only.
Transactional or Relationship message: Email communications sent as part of
maintaining a business relationship between the sender and the recipient.
Policy:
The college supports and encourages the coordinated and effective use of mass e-mail
distribution to communicate official information to groups of external customers in
excess of 100, excluding electronic communication between a faculty member and his or
her students enrolled in a Web course. Mass e-mail distribution to our customers will be
centrally administered under the Marketing Department (MAR) to ensure a coordinated
effort and decrease the number of multiple e-mails to the same targeted audience in
accordance with CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
Procedures:
In order to utilize the college’s mass e-mail function, the content must meet the specified
criteria and follow the listed procedures. Regardless of the source from which an e-mail
list is obtained, the following applies:
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Requests to send a mass e-mail to a target population must be directed to MAR
for approval via e-mail. The request must include a clearly defined customer
GA: 3023, p. 2
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target audience, the purpose of the e-mail, as well as the content of the e-mail. Email content must meet the criteria and should be brief, making use of hyperlinks
to www.csmd.edu or other Websites for additional information, products, or
services. Requests can be made in the following manner:
o E-mail to marketing@csmd.edu
o Intranet
o Customer Meeting
Mail and Distribution Services (MAI) will work with the requestor to prepare the
e-mail and complete the necessary processes.
Mass e-mails will be sent during non-peak processing periods, identified as before
9:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. daily.
Mass e-mails to customers will include a “Please Do Not Reply to this e-mail”
message to discourage customer replies to the CSM_E-News account. Customers
with questions regarding the content of the e-mail can send questions to a specific
department e-mail address or to info@csmd.edu.
Mass e-mails to customers will include an “Unsubscribe” disclaimer, with
specific instructions on how to do so.
Mass e-mails with validated e-mail lists will be processed within two business
days.
The following applies specifically for Colleague generated lists:
o For MAR to approve the request for a mass e-mail, the requestor must
have developed and validated a mailing label list, production query, adhoc
query, or other Colleague query (via querybuilder or other means) to
accurately select the target audience.
o Validation for the content of student-related e-mail lists will be provided
by the Registrar’s Office. Other Colleague-generated lists will be sent to
the respective process owner for validation. As examples, an e-mail
vendor list will be sent to Procurement or a college faculty e-mail list will
be sent to Human Resources.
 Process owners need to return a validated list to MAI within three
business days.
NOTE: If a validation request occurs during a high-volume period
for that process area, a delay may need to occur. The process
owner will immediately furnish MAI with notification of the delay,
with an anticipated date of turnaround. MAI will adjust the
timeline of the send accordingly.
 Returned ‘undeliverable’ e-mail addresses will be stored in a
shared folder for each separate e-mail.
It is the responsibility of the list owner to resolve these addresses
in Colleague within 90 days of the send date. After 90 days, the
shared folder will be deleted.
 Unsubscribe requests will be managed through an automated
unsubscribe utility.
GA: 3023, p. 3f.
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The following applies to all other mass e-mail lists:
o The list(s) will be forwarded electronically to MAI. Lists must be in Excel
format and accompanied by a description of the target population.
Unsubscribe requests will be managed through an automated unsubscribe
utility.
See: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003,
or the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Standards:
Mass e-mail may be used if one or more of the following criteria are met:
o Official announcement of college policies, procedures, programs, or business
activities
o The launching or establishment of new partnerships or articulation agreements
o Security issues / emergency notifications
o College-sponsored events or programs
o Financial or financial assistance information relevant to college customers
 E-mail regarding a particular event or program will be sent only once.
 Each customer of the college will receive no more than 5 to 10 mass e-mails in
any month from the college. It is agreed that this number may be adjusted
higher or lower by MAR, and that such action will be gauged by customer
feedback.
 Subject lines of all mass e-mails will contain a code at the end of each Subject line.
MAR will use the following coding system:
CSM + Subject Name + (Mail Code + Send Date)
Example: CSM-- To Claim or Not to Claim (FAD062903)
 Mass e-mail requestor must approve a draft of the e-mail prior to sending it.
All e-mails will allow for recipients to unsubscribe. Notice will be worded as follows:
You are receiving this e-mail containing pertinent information from the College of
Southern Maryland. If you have received this e-mail in error or do not wish CSM to email you, simply click on the link below and follow the instructions. Please allow 5
business days for the college to process this request.
CLICK LINK TO UNSUBSCRIBE:
https://express-dev.hawk.csmd.edu/cgi-bin/unsubscribe/
College of Southern Maryland
8730 Mitchell Road
P.O. Box 910
La Plata, MD 20646
Contact: Marketing Director, extensión 7639
7/05