GUIDELINES FOR MASS E-MAILS
Section
Employees Covered All Employees
Subject
Guidelines for Mass Emails
Guidelines
Page
Effective
Authorized
These guidelines outline best practices, policies and processes for the effective use of mass email at
CBU. The guidelines attempt to strike a balance between the speed and ease of use (for the sender) of
mass email and the impact on each member of the community receiving unsolicited email messages.
They have been developed in the interest of fairness, respect for personal time and effective use of
University resources.
For the purposes of these guidelines, mass email shall be considered to be any unsolicited electronic
mailing in which the message is sent to members of the University or affiliates in a bulk fashion.
1. Two groups have been established for mass email, as follows:
 The ‘Employees’ group is intended for mass emails when the message is intended for
CBU employees only.
 The ‘Announcements’ group includes CBU employees plus other individuals who work
or maintain offices at CBU, for example the food services, cleaners, tenants…
Because the “Announcements” group includes CBU employees, there is never any need to send
a message to both groups.
2.
Departments, organizations and individuals should be extremely judicious in sending unsolicited
email to all faculty and staff using either the ‘employees’ or the ‘announcements’ group that
directs mail to everyone on the Cape Breton University mail system. All messages must be
approved by the employee’s Dean or VP, or their designate, prior to sending.
3. Mass email messages must pertain to University business. The information conveyed should be
of significant value to the recipients. As a general guideline, mass email messages should be of
sufficient general interest to the CBU community that the messages would be justified as being
sent as printed memoranda if email were not available.
4. Examples of unacceptable messages include:
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Personal messages
Fundraising events (other than CBU Sponsored events)
Ticket sales (other than CBU sponsored activities)
Items for sale
Cape Breton University
Date Dec, 2014
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Jokes
Chain letters
Pyramid or money-making schemes
Unsolicited commercial email
Political campaigning
5. Keep mass email messages short. Do not include attachments; provide a URL link to download
content instead. Embedded graphic emails (ie invitations) are permitted if they pertain to
University business.
6. Clearly identify the unit or individual responsible for sending the message, the scope of
individuals being mass emailed, and the purpose of the message.
7. Include contact information (e-mail, mail address, phone number, or department) if more
information is required
8. Do not include personal, confidential or sensitive information.
9. Content drawn from press releases should be condensed into less than 100 words.
Communications & Public Relations maintains a listing of news releases on CBU’s website
(http://cbu.ca/news/) and mass email can be linked to the appropriate release.
10. Limit circulation to one announcement and one reminder for a single event. You may submit
events to the Communications & Public Relations to post and publicize on the events listing on
CBU’s website (http://cbu.ca/events/).
11. Departments that make frequent or regular requests for large group mailings are encouraged to
maintain their own groups.
12. It is the responsibility of each department to ensure that all employees, including full and part
time faculty, staff and student employees understand and abide by these guidelines.
Implementation Date
Next Review
Cape Breton University
Date Dec, 2014
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