TITLE: STUDENT EMAIL
POLICY NO: 1-8 EFFECTIVE DATE 01/22/2013
VCCS POLICY NO: 6.0.10 REVISED DATE: 09/24/2020

 

I. Purpose:

To describe how communication with students will be conducted via electronic mail (email) by faculty and staff.

 

II. Definitions:

Alternate email: an email account through a non-VCCS service provider, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Constant Contact, etc.

College-assigned email: an individual email account with a unique username@email.vccs.edu designation, which is assigned to each student upon acceptance to and registration for at least one class at Reynolds.

 

III. Policy:

Electronic mail (email) is one of the official methods for communication with students at Reynolds. All official email communication will be distributed to college-assigned email accounts only. Messages sent to a college-assigned email address may include notification of official college-related actions, including admissions, financial aid information, and disciplinary action.

 

A. Assignment of student email

A college-assigned email account is available for each admitted student who has registered for at least one class. Students can access their email account and change their password through the MyReynolds portal.

 

B. Expectations about student use of email

Students are expected to check their email on a frequent and consistent basis, in order to stay current with college-related communications and messages from course instructors. Students have the responsibility to recognize that certain communications may be time-critical. "I didn't check my email," an error in forwarding mail, or email returned to the college with "mailbox full" or "user unknown" are not acceptable excuses for missing official college or instructor communications sent via email. Students are responsible for the consequences of not reading in a timely manner college-related communications sent to their official college-assigned student email account. If a query to Reynolds administrative offices or faculty from an alternate email account is made, students may be asked to resubmit their query using their official college-assigned email account.

 

C. Redirecting email

Once email has been delivered to a college-assigned email account, students may forward messages to outside or alternate accounts at their own risk. The college strongly discourages this as a routine practice, because the college cannot guarantee delivery of mail to accounts outside of the @email.vccs.edu domain.

Email lost or not delivered because of redirection or forwarding does not absolve a student from the responsibilities associated with communication sent to their college-assigned email address. The college is not responsible for and will not investigate problems with email delivery to outside redirected or forwarded accounts.

 

D. Educational uses of email

All official email course communications between faculty and students must be sent via a college-assigned email account.

 

E. Privacy of email

Reynolds and the VCCS use various methods to protect the security of their computer and network resources and of users' accounts. Any electronic communications and data utilizing college-owned computer and network resources potentially may be disclosed under the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and other college, state, and federal laws and regulations, or for appropriate college business needs.

Email users should exercise extreme caution in using email to communicate confidential or sensitive matters, and should not assume that email is private and confidential. Users should be careful to send messages only to the intended recipient(s). Particular care should be taken when using the "reply" command during email correspondence, because many mailing lists are configured to deliver replies to the entire list, not just the author of a given message.

It is a violation of Reynolds and VCCS policy for any user of a college-assigned email address to impersonate a college office, faculty/staff member, or student in any manner or modality.

 

IV. Procedures:

College-assigned email accounts will be created automatically for all registered students. Students are notified via U.S. mail of their college-assigned email account.

 

V. Other Information:

JSRCC Policy No. 1-26, Student Privacy and Release of Student Information

JSRCC Policy No. 1-35, Student Conduct