University-wide Procedure #105
Section 1. Purpose
This procedure is established to define how the email policy is administered as the official means of communication at Metro State University.
Section 2. Definitions
- External mass email service: any mass e-mail system or service that is not provided and/or supported by Metro State University’s division of Institutional Effectiveness and Technology
- Mass email: an email sent to a group of more than 100 recipients
Section 3. Procedure
Accessibility
Metro State University is dedicated to ensuring that University email services are accessible to everyone provided with an email address. Students, faculty and staff may contact IET with email accessibility needs.
University Email Address
Metro State University students must be assigned a university email address when an application is completed successfully. Employees must be assigned a university email address when officially entered in Minnesota State’s Human Resource System. Students and employees attending or working at multiple institutions within the Minnesota State Colleges and University System are provided with one email account/inbox to be used across all institutions. This common email account/address uses a unique “alias” for the institution(s) they are working at and/or attending. An individual who is both a student and also an employee at Metro State University is issued both a student account/inbox at the time of application and an employee account/inbox when an individual is entered into the Human Resources systems. If a student is also an employee at Metro State University, they must have a student account/inbox and an employee account/inbox. The email addresses for those accounts/inboxes also have different email addresses. Student email addresses will include @my.metrostate.edu and employee email addresses will include @metrostate.edu.
Students and employees attending and/or working at more than one Minnesota State institution are responsible for managing which institution's email address is set as their primary email address for their account/inbox. This process is managed using Minnesota State’s StarID service.
Institutional Effectiveness and Technology only manages Metro State University email addresses. Students and employees attending and/or working at another Minnesota State institution will need to work with the appropriate institution for questions and support.
Students and employees attending and/or working at multiple Minnesota State institutions receive email from all institutions into their employee or student account/inbox. Having separate accounts/inboxes per institutional student and/or employee email addresses is not an available option.
University Email Use
Metropolitan State University’s email systems will only deliver official communications to @metrostate.edu and @my.metrostate.edu email addresses when sending internal email. Official email may be sent to outside addresses as needed however those email communications must not contain personally identifiable information (PII) or any private data. Although @metrostate.edu and @my.metrostate.edu email addresses can be forwarded to other email addresses, the delivery to forwarded email address cannot be guaranteed or verified.
Official communication for the purpose of this procedure is information that is important and relevant to or in support of teaching, learning, and university business operations, used for purposes appropriate to the University’s mission.
Employees including faculty, are allowed to attempt to contact students by means of the recipients’ non Metrostate.edu email addresses however those communications shall not be deemed official.
Email addresses that are not provided by Metro State University (administered by Institutional Effectiveness & Technology) are not permitted to be used for university affiliated work. For example, department or programs are not allowed to use Gmail addresses.
University Administered Email Distribution Groups
University emails sent to, and sent from, email distribution groups are administered by Institutional Effectiveness and Technology. Membership of these email groups are both automated by affiliation/role and manual. Removal from university email distribution groups is not permitted unless there is an error in the membership.
Student Email Access
Metro State email for students remains active for students until 24 months after their last enrolled class end date. After 24 months from the end of the last enrolled course, student email will be disabled and not accessible. If a student is readmitted, the email service will be reinstated.
Employee Email Access
Metro State email for employees and resident faculty will remain active until their last day of employment. Community Faculty continue to have access for up to 12 months from their last appointment end date. This allows for Community Faculty to maintain access to university email if not teaching consecutive semesters.
Emeriti Email Access
Metro State email accounts for emeriti remain active as long as the account holder continues to use the email service. If the email account is not accessed for a period of one year, the account will be identified for closure. Associated applications and services (for example, Microsoft 365), in addition to email, can vary from those of current students and employees.
Guest and Contractor Access
Metro State email for guests and contractors may be made available by request.
Departmental Email Accounts
Departments that provide services in response to email requests shall create a shared mailbox to help support departmental functional continuity for managing requests sent via email. Employees may contact IET for information about shared mailboxes and to submit a request.
Campus-Related Emergencies
Messages relating to a campus-related emergency must follow emergency communications protocols. The university cannot remove students and employees from the emails sent from the University related to emergencies.
Email Security
All Metro State University email accounts have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled. This is a Minnesota State information security requirement. Institutional Effectiveness and Technology supports all students and employees with this service.
Metro State attempts to provide secure, private and reliable email services by following sound information technology and security practices. Metro State cannot guarantee the security, privacy or reliability of its email service. All Metro State email users should exercise extreme caution in using email to communicate confidential or sensitive matters.
Compromised Accounts, due to an information security concern, are disabled immediately. Communication to the account holder must promptly occur requesting a password reset to re-enable the account and additional information regarding support.
Requests for information regarding, and/or access to, Metro State University email accounts are managed by the Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Technology/CIO in consultation with the University’s President, appropriate executive team member(s), and Minnesota State system office.
Section 4. Authority
This procedure is issued pursuant to authority granted to the President by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System Board of Trustees.
Section 5. Effective Date
This procedure shall become effective upon signature by the President and shall remain in effect until modified or expressly revoked.
Section 6. Responsibility
Responsibility for implementation of this policy is assigned to the Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Technology/CIO.
Section 7. Review
This procedure will be reviewed as needed at a minimum, every two years.
Section 8. Signature
Issued on this date: 09/20/2024
Virginia “Ginny” Arthur, JD
President
Date of Implementation: 09/20/2024
Date of Last Review: 09/20/2024
Date and Subject of Amendments:
Additional History and/or Revision Dates:
09/20/2024 This procedure was created by dividing Policy 1050 (created in 2008) into a policy and procedure pair. Its language was updated to accurately reflect current technology. Language was added regarding the use of limited unofficial communication with students’ personal email, to allow employees, including faculty, to contact students at their personal email accounts.