»Guidelines for Issuing University-Wide Email Announcements

Background and Overview:

In an average year, the Strategic Marketing and Communications (SMC) team receives numerous requests from all corners of the university to issue university-wide emails to faculty, staff and/or students. The current expectation is for messages to be approved and distributed immediately (within minutes to an hour).

For background, in fiscal year 2024-25, SMC issued more than 300 mass emails on behalf of individuals and departments, not to mention another 90 Working@Chapman newsletters. By comparison, a spot check of other universities puts the average annual mass email send at around 150 or so.

In the vast majority of strategic marcomm organizations inside and outside of higher education, passively issuing a high volume of mass emails is not standard practice because the most effective communications are planned well in advance and are often anchored by broader communications plans that articulate goals, audiences, messaging, desired calls to action, etc. Unless the situation is an actual emergency (the potential for impending physical harm), typical all-campus messages should be strategically timed, written, and planned, and there are several factors that should be considered before automatically distributing a communication.

Sample Considerations:

• Does this rise to the level of going out to the entire community?
  • Generally, all-campus communications are reserved for the most important and all-encompassing information reflecting leadership priorities and having the greatest impact. When everything is important, nothing is important.
• Is an all-university email the most appropriate channel for this information?
  • Sometimes information is better communicated in alternative channel(s), such as the internal campus newsletter, a school/college newsletter, an email to senior staff and deans, an email to all department heads or supervisors, or a social media post.
• Is the timing right?
  • It is important to consider whether people will generally be on campus on that day or at that time and be ready to receive the message. At Chapman, we sometimes see communications go out on a given day or week that could reach a saturation point and affect the mood on campus. Messages sent at night or on the weekends can add apprehension or be ignored by most of our audience.
• Are we planning to issue an all-university email because we want to send something out?
  • We need to always be mindful of what our audiences actually want, need, and will consume.

Proposed Criteria for University-Wide Communications:

This form of e-communication is reserved for very important – but not emergency level – information from the high levels of administration to employees and students. Sending is managed by SMC, and requests must come through SMC’s liaison system or through our online request form. Requests for these announcements must be submitted five business days in advance of requested send time. Please note, not all requests will be granted, and timing must be managed with other messages; however, SMC will work to determine the best way to communicate an announcement to the appropriate audience(s).

It is important to note that departments, including IS&T, should not push out mass communications or mass calendar invitations without first coordinating with SMC.

Only SMC and the President’s Office will have the ability to push out mass communications that are not emergency related in nature. True emergency communications would be communicated via the Rave Emergency System.

University-wide announcements may include:

• Strategic university updates from senior and executive leadership. Examples:
  • Back-to-school welcome message from the President laying out the year’s institution-wide priorities
  • A message from the Provost announcing a new academic-wide priority or initiative
  • A major milestone reached in the Strategic Plan
  • A major budgetary update from the EVP/COO
  • A fall enrollment update from the VP of Enrollment
• News with significant impact on the community, such as high-level leadership changes, compensation, or benefits. Examples:
  • High-level leadership (vice president, dean, or above) appointment, retirement, departure, or death.
    • Note: Please see separate, specific personnel and death notification/in memoriam criteria so that we are consistent and not deciding in the moment who merits what type of communication.
  • An initial communication about the performance appraisal or benefits open enrollment process; follow-up comms could run in the internal newsletter or be emailed to all supervisors.
• New policies or changes in existing policies that materially or imminently impact day-to-day work. (Reminders of policies are more appropriate in the internal campus newsletter or other alternatives.) Examples of appropriate all-campus emails:
  • COVID procedures
  • Cost-cutting measures that require wide awareness, adoption, and context setting
• Major, signature, traditional university-wide initiatives, or celebrations. Examples:
  • State of the University
  • Commencement
  • Staff Summer Festival
  • Convocation
  • Inauguration (when one occurs)
  • Homecoming
  • Economic Forecast
• Faculty/staff or faculty/staff/student invitations to official, President-hosted convenings. Examples:
  • Town halls
  • Community conversations
  • Ribbon cuttings or dedication ceremonies for new schools, buildings, etc.
• Urgent information from IS&T. Examples:
  • Email scam notices that are affecting large pockets of higher education or Chapman University
  • Unplanned outages that must occur quickly (planned outages can go in the internal newsletter)
• Non-emergency public safety or facilities information that has unplanned, immediate impacts. Examples:
  • Parking lot closure
  • Campus closure
• Compliance emails that we are required by law to issue broadly