Email and Official College Electronic Communication Use (Procedure 7.0130)

Purpose

Seminole State College's official electronic communications are delivered through the College's emails, social media platforms, website and applicable learning management systems ("communications(s) systems (s)") systems.  These communications systems are variously available to students, faculty, staff, retires, members of the District Board of Trustees, members of the public.  And other authorized constituents to improve educational and administrative efficiency.  The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidelines for the management and use of the College's electronic communications systems.

Definitions

Refer to College Procedure 7.0001 Information Technology and Resources - Glossary of Terms for definitions of terms used throughout this procedure.  Additionally, the following terms used in this Procedure have the following definitions.

"Official Account" means a social media platform or website that is approved and operated in accordance with this procedure and is actively managed by College employees in the Marketing & Communications department.

"Authorized Account" means a social media platform or website that is not an "Official Account" but is approved and operated in accordance with this procedure and is actively managed by a College employee outside the Marketing & Communications department.

Procedure

1. Authorized Users
   1. Only College students, faculty, staff, retirees, members of the District Board of Trustees, and other constituents who have received permission under the appropriate College authority are authorized users of the College's communications systems.
   2. Students
      1. Seminole State College students will have access to email and learning management systems and can be reached by College faculty and staff as needed. Communications sent via the College provided communications systems may include, but are not limited to, information regarding attendance, grades, admissions, enrollment services, advising, financial aid, emergency closures, changes to class schedules, etc.
      2. The Computing and Telecommunications Services (CTS) Department will remove a student's email after three (3) consecutive terms of student inactivity.  (e.g. no enrollment, no valid application, collections).  Students will be notified via email thirty (30) days prior to removal.
         
         
   3. Faculty, Staff, and Retirees
      1. Faculty will determine how email and the learning management system are used in their classes and will specify requirements in the course syllabus.
      2. This procedure will ensure that all students are able to comply with the electronic communications-based course requirements specified by faculty.  Faculty are authorized to use email for their sole communications of certain elements related to their classes.
      3. All Seminole State class information that is disseminated electronically must be sent through the College's electronic system (e.g., email, the learning management systems, or similar College adopted programs.)
      4. The Computing and Telecommunication Services (CTS) Department will remove an employee's email account upon notification that that employment has been terminated.  Accounts may be retained as requested by appropriate as requested by appropriate Vice President.
      5. Retiree who qualifies for a retiree email account may choose to have it activated at the time of retirement.
      6. A retiree's account will be removed if is not used for six consecutive months.  The email account may be reinstated at the College's discretion.
         
         
   4. Members of the District Board of Trustees
      1. An email account will be established for all Board members.
      2. Communication sent via Seminole State email is considered adequate notification of College related business.
      3. When a term of service has ended for a Board member, that person's account will be deactivated but the account will be retained as prescribed by Florida law and statutes.
         
         
2. Email as a Public Record
   1. Email communications are protected by the same laws and policies, and are subject to the same limitations, as communications in other media.  Likewise, users shall not use College email for any purpose that violates federal law, state or local law.  Or College policies and procedures.
   2. Email that is created or received in connection with the transaction of the official business of the College is considered a public record.  Consistent with Chapter 119, Florida Statues, and College policies and procedures, email communications may be subject to public inspection and/or copying.  Retention laws and regulations, unless expressly exempted by law, may apply.
   3. Under some conditions, personal emails could become classified as a public record.
   4. Messages containing important or valuable information must be retained securely for future reference.  (Refer to Policy 7.020 Data Classification and Security, and Procedure 7.0500 Data Classification, Security and Roles.)
      
      
3. Social Media Rules
   1. General Rules
      1. All College Official and authorized Accounts are subject to the standards set forth in this Procedure, and creation and maintenance of Official and Authorized Accounts may occur only as authorized in the Procedure.  Only accounts created under this Procedure shall be considered Official or Authorized Accounts.  All other social media posts or accounts shall not be considered Official or Authorized Accounts or represent the official position of the College or any of its trustees, officers, employees, or independent contractors.
      2. The College considers its Official and Authorized Accounts which accept comment to the moderated online discussion sites and not public fora.  Content must be restricted to the posted topic and subject matter.  In addition, the College reserves the right to remove posts and comments that contain:
         1. Profane language or content;
         2. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination against protected classes;
         3. Sexual harassment content;
         4. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
         5. Spam or comments that include links to external online sites;
         6. Solicitations of commerce or advertisements including promotion or endorsement;
         7. Promotions of particular commercial services, products or political candidates or organization;
         8. Content that violates legal ownership interest of any other party, such as copyright infringement; and
         9. Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems, including the College's information technology systems.
      3. Violators of this policy may have their posts and comments removed from the College's Official and Authorized accounts.  Violations of this policy may prompt the College to further restrict an individual's commenting on or access to the College's Official and Authorized Accounts.
      4. Copyright and intellectual property rights of others and of the College shall be respected when posting information.  Questions about fair use of copyrighted material shall be directed to the Office of Legal Affairs in advance of any posting.
      5. Social media users must obey the terms and conditions imposed by the social media website in which in the user is participating.
      6. When an administrator of one of the College's Official or Authorized social media platforms suspects a violation of the Procedure, they shall contact the Marketing & Communications department of the College, which will review and authorize removal of a post when appropriate.  When appropriate and if possible, an approved social media administrator will contact the commenter and/or to request voluntary removal of the comment.  Appeals regarding the Marketing & Communications department's to socialmedia@seminolestate.edu. The Marketing & Communications department will respond to appeals within two (2) business days. Post shall be subject to removal pending appeal.
         
         
   2. Rules for College Employees using Social Media Accounts:
      College employees may not use social media accounts in ways that violate federal, state, local and, when applicable, foreign laws, as well as College policies or procedures. Employees who violate these laws, policies or procedures may face disciplinary action.
      1. Confidential, proprietary, or any other information protected or exempted by law about Seminole State College, students, employees, or alumni must be protected and may not be posted to any social media site.  Employees must follow applicable federal requirements such as FERPRA, HIPAA, Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, as well as NJCAA regulations. Social media users shall adhere to all applicable College privacy and confidentiality policies.  Employees who share confidential or proprietary information may face disciplinary action.
      2. Employees shall not use the Seminole State name, logo or any other College images or iconography to promote a commercial product, cause, or political party or candidate not authorized by the College.
         
         
   3. Rules for Official Accounts and Authorized Accounts:
      College employees shall not portray themselves as acting or speaking on behalf of the College or any part of the College or create a social media account as an Official Account, unless authorized to do so by both the Vice President with jurisdiction over the requestor's department (or designee) and the Vice President, Marketing & Strategic Communications (or designee). The request to create an Official Account shall include written justification. Even when acting in their College capacity, social media users shall not represent their own positions and opinions on social media as those of the College.
      1. Employees designated as administrators (or designee) of Official or Authorized Accounts are the only persons authorized to post, create, and manage Official and Authorized Accounts.  Employees designated as administrators of Official or Authorized Accounts are responsible for all postings on accounts they manage.
      2. Official Accounts must be reviewed and approved through an application process.  Authorization to present a social media account as an official College activity must come from both the Vice President with jurisdiction over the requestor's unit (or designee).  Each social media account will have a responsible administrator(s) assigned.
      3. Administrators must be an employee of the College at the time of appointment. The Marketing & Communications department will remove an employee as a social media administrator upon notification that employment has been terminated or transferred to another department. Managers of social media platforms will be removed by the page's administrator upon notification that employment has been terminated or the employee has transferred to another department. Employees may also be removed by the Vice President, Marketing & Strategic Communications (or designee) as social media administrators or manager if they violate this social media procedure. Administrators and or manager who violate this social media procedure may request reinstatement via email to socialmedia@seminolestate.edu.
      4. Each Official Account must include a disclaimer statement, in a form approved by the Marketing & Communications department, regarding content and opinions contained on the site.
      5. All Official and Authorized Accounts will be publicly listed by the College in a directory of official social media webpages maintained by the Marketing & Communications department.
      6. Student organizations shall not be entitled to create Official or Authorized Accounts. Student organizations shall not use any College trademarks, logos, or other intellectual property om their social media accounts, but may use the words "SSC", //Seminole State" or //Seminole State College" in the name of their student organization if the organization has been recognized by the Office of Student Life. The College may require student organizations using the words "SSC", "Seminole State" or "Seminole State College" to use disclaimer language approved by the Marketing & Communications department on their social media accounts.
         
         
4. Conditions
   1. Acceptable Uses for All Users of Seminole State College's Communication Systems
      1. Communicating in a professional manner with other SSC employees and/or students about work/class-related matters.
      2. Communicating in a professional manner with parties outside SSC for business purposes.
      3. Personal communications that are brief and do not interfere with work responsibilities.
      4. Users are allowed to access personal email accounts on a limited basis, without disrupting business responsibilities. Access can be gained only by using a browser. Use of email specific protocols, such as POP3 and IMAP4 on any SSC device, is prohibited.
         
         
   2. Unacceptable Uses for All Users of Seminole State College's Communications Systems
      1. Creating and exchanging messages that can be interpreted as harassing, obscene, racist, sexist, ageist, pornographic or threatening, as defined by SSC policies.
      2. Creating and exchanging information that is in violation of copyright or any other law. SSC is not responsible for employees and students use of e-mail that breaks laws. For guidance, consult Copyright and Fair Use Resources at https://www.seminolestate.edu/library/services/copyright/copyright-faculty.   Questions regarding fair use or copyrighted material should be directed to the Seminole State College library.
      3. Personal communication that interferes with work responsibilities.
      4. Opening file attachments from an unknown or untrustworthy source, or with a suspicious or unexpected subject line.
      5. Sending unprotected healthcare data and personally identifiable consumer data or other confidential information classified in Data Classification, Security and Roles (Procedure 7.0500) to unauthorized people or in violation of SSC's Acceptable Use of College Technology (Policy 7.010), FERPA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and/or Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act regulations. Exceptions may be authorized by the College Chief Information Security Officer (CIO) working with the employee's supervisor. Communications that strain SSC's network or other systems unduly, such as sending large files to large distribution lists. This type of data can be sent to authorized people or organizations through the use of College-approved email encryption services.
      6. Communications to distribution lists of only marginal interest to employees and replying to the entire distribution list when a personal reply is effective.
      7. Auto-forwarding e-mail messages from your employee account to any non-SSC email system.
      8. Using any external e-mail system, other than SSC's e-mail system, for College communications.
      9. Circulating chain letters and/or commercial offerings.
      10. Using any of the College systems for sending what is commonly referred to as "SPAM" mail (unsolicited bulk email)
      11. Email use that intentionally distributes or supports viruses, worms, Trojan horses, malware, corrupted files, hoaxes, snooping, spoofing, spam, phishing, spidering, or other activities of a destructive or deceptive nature is prohibited.
          
          
   3. All users are expected to read and appropriately respond to their College communications on a frequent and consistent basis. The College recommends checking communications at least once each workday since certain communication may be time sensitive.
   4.  Authorized users have the responsibility to use College communications in an efficient, effective, ethical and lawful manner related to College business. Users are expected to immediately report any misuse of College communications to the Office of the Vice President of Information Technology and Resources.
   5. Official communication includes but is not limited to messages from the President, policy and procedure information, academic notifications, emergency notifications, and event announcements.
   6. An employee who represents an employee group, organization, association, etc. may be permitted to use the College's email system to communicate with their member ship and/or other College employees, as long as the individual or group has been approved to so do by the appropriate Vice President. Use of the College's email system is a privilege that may be revoked at any time due to misuse or violation of Policy 7.010 Acceptable Use of College Technology or state statute.
   7. The College can validate only those emails that are sent from a valid College email address. Messages from personal email accounts (e.g., cfl.rr.com, Hotmail.com, etc.) might not be received, and the sender may be asked to resend the message using an Official Seminole State address.
   8. Authorized users shall have no expectation of privacy in anything they store, send, or receive on the College's email system.
   9. The College may monitor messages without prior notice or consent.
   10. The College may access email accounts for various reasons including, but not limited to, maintaining the system, investigating security or abuse incidents, investigating alleged violations of College policies or procedures, or circumstances where the account holder can no longer access the email system for any reason (e.g. death, disability, illness, or temporary/permanent separation from the College).
   11. Users shall not misrepresent themselves or another person's identity or affiliation in email communications.
   12. Users shall not alter, disable, test, reverse-engineer, or otherwise interfere with or circumvent any aspect of College email services to find limitations and vulnerabilities or to evade filtering capabilities.
   13. All incoming email is scanned for viruses, phishing attaches, and spam. Suspected messages are blocked from the user's inbox. Due to the complex nature of email, it is impossible to guarantee protection against all spam and virus infected messages. It is therefore incumbent on each individual to use proper care and consideration to prevent the spread of viruses and other malware. In many cases, viruses or phishing appear to be sent from a friend, coworker, or other legitimate source. User should not click links or open attachments unless they are sure of the nature of the message. If any doubt exists, the user should click the "Report Phish" button at the upper right of the email window or contact the Helpdesk at 407.708.2000 or helpdesk@seminolestate.edu.
       
       
5. Sanctions
   1. Violations of this Policy will be handled under normal College disciplinary procedures applicable to the relevant person or departments. In addition, a violation may result in:
      1. Suspension, blocking, or restriction of access to information and network resources, when it reasonable appears necessary to do so in order to protect the integrity, security, or functionality of College resources or to protect the College from liability;
      2. Disciplinary action up to and including separation from the College;
      3. Users being held financially responsible for the costs incurred as result of a data breach, loss or illegal disclosure. The College reserves the right to seek a remedy allowed by applicable law against any individual who, in connection with the use of College email system or related College electronic resources, intentionally or in the exercise of gross negligence causes material loss or damage to the College or any third party to whom the College owes a duty of care.

Rulemaking Authority and Law(s) Implemented: Florida Statue Chapter 119; 1001.64; 1001.65, Policies 1.160; 7.010; 7.020

History-Adopted 01/2016, revised 10/2019, 6/2024