Policy for the Use of Email for Official Communication

Inver Hills Community College uses a college-assigned email address as the official means of communication with students. Students are responsible for all information sent to them via their IHCC email account. 

College use of official email

Communications are intended only to meet the academic and administrative needs of the campus community. The College has the right to expect that such communications will be received and read in a timely fashion. As steward of this process, the Director of Enrollment Services is responsible for directing the use of the official student email. See Guidelines for the Use of Official Student Email Service.

Assignment of student email

Inver Hills Community College collaborates with the Metropolitan Educational Telecommunications Network (METNET) to provide each student an email account. The college-issued email address will be the only address Inver Hills Community College uses when sending official communications via email. Official email addresses are not considered as “directory information” under FERPA and the Minnesota Data Practices Act, but individual students can choose to make their e-mail address publicly available using the account setup options on the METNET web site (http://www.metnet.edu).

Expectations about student use of email

Students are expected to check their email on a weekly basis. Students have the responsibility to recognize that certain communications may be time-critical. “I didn’t check my email,” error in forwarding mail, or email returned to the college with “Mailbox Full” or “User Unknown” are not acceptable excuses for missing official college communications.

Redirecting of email

Students are responsible for all information sent to them via their Inver Hills email account. If students choose to forward messages to another account, they do so at their own risk. Students remain responsible for obtaining the information that has been communicated from Inver Hills. The college will not be responsible for the handling of email by outside vendors or by departmental servers.

Compliance with related policies

All messages must adhere to the college’s Acceptable Use of Information Technology Policy, available on the college web site, MnSCU’s Code of Conduct and Ethics, and Minnesota Statutes 43A.38, Subd. 4 and 43.A39, Subd.2, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.
 

Policy approved: March 2005
Implementation: August 2005