Student Announcements Policy in a Nutshell

What follows is the original Student Announcements Policy ("Guidelines for Class List Announcements") originally drafted by the SGA Computer Services Committee (12/8/1997 - Senators Abramowitz, Astmann, Cummings, Leonardis and Swormstedt), part of S.G.A. Resolution #5 (11/17/1997) "A Resolution Calling for the Establishment of Class List Guidelines & a Moderator Position."

The SGA Moderator will interpret the guidelines below when processing announcement requests, and will accept or reject messages based upon the rules below. Questions may be sent to the SGA Moderator, sga-moderator@skidmore.edu.

Messages containing HTML formatting, or lengthy email signatures may be rejected or edited for size. Please send announcements in TEXT-ONLY format, and DISABLE your email signature. It is very time-consuming to strip HTML tags out of messages, as well as to remove email signatures, and messages may be rejected if time does not permit for modifications. Repeated unsatisfied requests by the moderator to a sender to remove a signature or HTML formatting will result in message rejection! Please contact the CITS Helpdesk at x5900 if you need assistance in complying with this.

Announcements are sent out on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at midnight. Submissions must be received at or before 11pm on those days to be included in the digest. Submissions for events that will have already happened by the time the next digest goes out will not be posted.

Occasionally, depending on load, a supplemental version of Student Announcements may go out on a day not specified above. This will not offset the regular delivery schedule, however.



I. Purpose
	The purpose of these guidelines is to give the moderator a 
definition of what announcements are allowed and proper to be posted on 
the campus mailing list.

II. Access
	All Skidmore students and faculty will have access to placing an
annoucement.  If the moderator approves the announcement, based on the 
given guidelines, then it will be sent out on the class lists.
	We expect the majority of announcements from:
		A: SGA Sponsored Clubs
		B: Campus Organizations
		C: Faculty
		D: Residence Hall Representatives

III. Guidelines
	A. Content
		1. Only events affiliated with Skidmore College are 
		   acceptable.
		2. No personal messages, requests, or solicitations.
		3. Numerous repetitions of the same message may not
		   always be posted - pending urgency.
	B. Ethics & Censorship
		All announcements must comply with the standards proposed
		by the Skidmore Honor Code.  Any questionable messages may
		be brought to the Academic and/or Social Integrity Boards.
		1. Vulgarity is unacceptable.
		2. Any message deemed unacceptable due to this category may
		   be reworded or rephrased and sent back for posting.

	C. Appearance
		1. The moderator has the authority to alter appearance of
		   announcements in order to fit correctly into e-mail
		   messages.
		2. A length limit will be imposed based upon the system's
		   restrictions.
		3. Announcements will be sent together in one e-mail message.
		4. The number of announcements per mailing will be decided
		   beforehand and subject to amount of messages waiting to be
		   sent.

	D. Rejections & Alterations
		1. All rejections will be accompanied by a letter explaining
		   the reasons for that action.
		2. Rejections due to ethical reasons, size, or lack or
		   excess of information may be altered and sent back for
		   consideration.

	E. Questionable Material
		Any questionable material will be brought before the Computer
		Services Committee, and then onto any other bodies as needed.


Further Reading:

  • Code of Ethics for Computing at Skidmore College
  • Skidmore College Policy on Electronic Mail
  • Copyright Policy
  • Skidmore College CITS - Help