Policy Author:
Office of Information Technology

Responsible Office – Department:
Office of Information Technology

Effective Date of Policy:
February 10, 2021 updated July 12, 2022

See also Technology Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to minimize risk and maximize compliance. This policy supplements the Technology Acceptable Use Policy.

Daemen provides all employees with an official Daemen email account for the purpose of communicating and conducting Daemen-related business with each other, students, and other relevant parties in an efficient manner. All Daemen faculty and staff are responsible for checking their Daemen e-mail account regularly to ensure that important communications are not missed. 

All electronic communications and/or computer systems and all communications and information transmitted by, received from, or stored in these systems, including paper copies thereof, are the property of Daemen University and, unless explicitly excluded herein, are to be used solely for Daemen and/or business related purposes. 

All Daemen employees are required to use their official Daemen email account for all Daemen-related correspondence and/or when conducting Daemen-related business.  Daemen employees may not use their own personal email accounts to conduct Daemen’s business. 

Personal use of Daemen’s computers or other Daemen-owned hardware or systems should be strictly limited as outlined in the Technology Acceptable Use Policy. This includes all Information Technology resources, including, but not limited to, laptops, Daemen’s e-mail system, Daemen’s access to the Internet, software, databases, system accounts, and networks. 

Daemen employees should be aware that privacy cannot be guaranteed in the aforementioned electronic communication and computer information systems. As stated in the Technology Acceptable Use Policy “The University reserves the right to audit all Daemen accounts at any time to ensure compliance with Daemen policies and procedures. Daemen accounts and electronic files may also be subject to search under court order.”

Where it appears that the integrity, security, or functionality of the University’s computer or network resources are at risk or in instances of abuse of University policies, standards, or local, state, or federal laws, Daemen reserves the right to take whatever actions it deems necessary (including, but not limited to monitoring activity and viewing files) to investigate and resolve the situation.

Individuals who are not currently employed by Daemen, or otherwise teaching courses or performing services, during the academic semester will have limited access to Daemen’s IT resources.  Individuals who are reemployed during an academic semester or otherwise commence performance of duties for Daemen will have access restored by Daemen’s IT Department.  

Guidelines Regarding Daemen’s Electronic Communications System

• Privacy cannot be guaranteed in the e-mail system and messages generated within it should not be considered confidential or inherently protected from access by others.
• E-mail should be treated as if it were written correspondence and should be considered as subject to disclosure in accordance with legal action or applicable law or regulation.
• Deletion of an e-mail message does not necessarily mean that it cannot be retrieved.  It should be assumed that Daemen has the ability to retrieve all deleted e-mail messages.
• Unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable material, including, but not limited to, material that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any Daemen University policy or any applicable municipal, provincial, federal, or international law are prohibited from being sent, printed, requested or stored on Daemen’s e-mail system.
• Your Daemen email should be used for work-related purposes only. Misuse of the e-mail system may result in disciplinary action. 
• E-mail attachments should not be opened unless they are business-related, the source of the attachment is known, and the user is expecting the file.