Policies for Mailing List Creation and Use

Each list must conform to the University's Institution Policy on Use of Computer Systems and Networks, which states, in part:

"Proper use of University computing facilities involves only those activities performed in support of the University contractual and/or operational requirements.   All other use of the University network, including hardware, software is expressly forbidden.  The University promotes the use of security measures on all of its computer and communication facilities."

Who can request a mailing list?

Any faculty or staff member, as well as active, registered student organizations, as verified through the Department of Student Activities and Student Organizations (Ramon Hill, Assistant Director, University Center, Room 209), can request the creation of an electronic mailing list. A list can be established for your department, working group or organization. While organizations, people and groups outside of the University will not be permitted to set up mailing lists, they are welcome to subscribe (add their electronic mailing addresses) to lists maintained at the University of Miami, where non-University users are allowed to subscribe.

Inappropriate and disallowed uses of a mailing list

Lists may not be used for:
• Unsolicited mass mailings (spamming).
• Non-University commercial or advertising purposes.
• Purposes which violate University policies, local ordinances, or state or federal laws.
• Posting obscene or otherwise offensive material (e.g., messages with sexual, discriminatory, racial, or derogatory connotations).
• Posting copyrighted materials, trade secrets, proprietary financial information, or similar materials without appropriate prior authorization from the owner of such information.
• Adversely affecting or jeopardizing the University services or those of its members.
• Forgery, or attempted forgery, of the "From:" line in an e-mail message. Masking the identity of an account and/or electronic identification address is prohibited.
• for-profit" and/or supporting a "for-profit" organization.
• Purely personal reasons.

Responsabilities of the list owner

In all cases, the list must have a primary owner who is responsible for the maintenance of the list. The primary owner must be a faculty or staff member, or a member of a registered student organization (as verified through the Department of Student Activities and Student Organizations). In the event where the primary owner leaves the University or does not wish to continue as the owner of a list, he/she must appoint another faculty or staff member, or a member of a registered student organization, to be the new primary owner of the list. Otherwise, the list will be eliminated.

The primary owner of a list is responsible for day-to-day monitoring and operation of the list. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Serving as the initial point of contact for subscribers with questions or problems.
• Deleting subscribers whose addresses are no longer valid.
• Dealing with any social problems which may arise on the list.
• Ensuring that the list members abide by the conditions setup in the section "Inappropriate and disallowed uses of a Mailing List" above and to take appropriate action if members do not do so. This may simple involve a warning to a member who was unaware of these conditions, or may involve the temporary or permanent removal of a member from the list.
• Ensuring that messages carried on the list are appropriate to the list's topic.
• Notifying the LISTSERV administrator at LISTMGR@MIAMI.EDU when a list is not longer needed, so that the list is deleted.

The primary owner may authorize other individuals to act as owners, editors, or moderators of the list. However, all owners, editors, and moderators must be faculty or staff members, or members of a registered student organization. In most cases, a list owner should not add a subscriber to a list without the subscriber's prior knowledge and consent, and should comply immediately with a request from a subscriber to be removed from a list.

NOTE: Exceptions to these policies and procedures must be approved by the Vice President of Information Technology.