Employee Email - Technical Services Policy - 50100

1.1 Provide guidelines on assignment and use of College email by College employees.

Electronic mail or “email” is an official method for communication at the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and Germanna Community College because it delivers information in a convenient, timely, cost effective and environmentally aware manner. Confidentiality and security issues must be addressed when using email to communicate official communications.

2.1 Germanna Community College uses email for one of its official means of communication and expects that all emails will be received and read by faculty and staff in a timely manner.

2.2 All Faculty and staff are assigned Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based email account as their official College email account and employing the format username@germanna.edu. The Office 365 system is managed and controlled by Germanna and VCCS staff. Email can be accessed both on campus and off campus.

2.3 Faculty and staff are assigned a Google email account when they are granted access to the PeopleSoft enterprise suite of applications that include student information, human resource, accounting and other modules. The Google email account is noted by the @email.vccs.edu address. The Google email account is hosted by Google and not maintained by Germanna or VCCS employees. As such, College staff are unable to support the application, save messages, or retrieve messages for users. Requests for support must be addressed to Google. Appropriate uses of the assigned Google email account include:

2.3.1 Collaboration with students while using Google apps products

2.3.2 Communication with others for official College business during outages of the official Germanna (Office 365) system

2.3.3 Communication with others for official College business during emergency operations such as when the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) is implemented

2.4 Germanna Community College does not authorize email to be automatically forwarded to other email systems (such as a personal email account or the previously mentioned Google account) due to security and legal concerns.

2.4.1 Individual messages may be forwarded or redirected to other email accounts; however, employees must still comply with policies of the College and VCCS.

2.4.2 An exception can be requested of Technical Services to allow auto-forwarding to another VCCS email account (not the Google email) if an employee is teaching at multiple VCCS colleges.

2.5 All use of email will comply with local, state, and federal policies, regulations, and laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

2.6 Users are responsible for maintaining the privacy of their log in/user identification and passwords, especially when they may leave a computer unattended.

2.7 Prohibited uses of College email and computer network include, but are not limited to:

2.7.1 chain letters

2.7.2 communications intended to result in personal gain (financial or otherwise)

2.7.3 unlawful activities

2.7.4 acts deliberating attempting to deny service, interfere with communications, or disrupt the network or email services of GCC or any other organization.

2.7.5 Harassment of other individuals, groups or organizations. Recipients of such email are asked to report such behaviors to the Executive Director of Human Resources and retain both printed and electronic copies of the harassing email.

2.8 Violations of policy or law may result in the loss of the user’s account, College sanctions and other civil and criminal penalties, including suspension of privileges pending review of the incident(s).

2.9 Germanna Community College reserves the right to revise or amend policies at any time. Changes in policy will be approved by the GCC President’s Council.

2.10 Emails sent via the emergency notification system are not covered by this policy.

Manager of Technical Support Services

Leadership Council: First Reading - 07/23/20; Approval - 08/27/20