Bulk Email

Bulk email is a powerful way of reaching targeted members of the Murdoch community quickly and accurately, however, excessive use of this capability can lead to an email glut, and a perception by users that they are subject to spam or junk email.

This policy addresses Murdoch's need to provide convenient, effective, institutional communications via email - a process we have named Murdoch Announcements.

Using Murdoch Announcements

For people who handle a large number of email messages daily, it is easy for important messages to get lost amongst more trivial ones. To help users manage their email, Announcements are only sent on matters of importance, and are clearly labelled as "Announcement" in the subject line. Each Announcement will specify who authorised it.

General Announcements broadly affect the entire Murdoch community, and are authorised by the Vice Chancellor, or a Deputy Vice Chancellor, or the Director Public Relations and Brand Marketing, or the General Counsel and University Secretary.

These are tagged as "General Announcement" in the subject line and include:

• Announcements from the Vice Chancellor addressing all staff and students.
• Urgent communications relating to University policies and procedures.

Staff Announcements broadly affect all staff, and are authorised by the Vice Chancellor, or a Deputy Vice Chancellor, or the Director Public Relations and Brand Marketing, or the General Counsel and University Secretary.

These are tagged as "Staff Announcement" in the subject line and include information on:

• Health and Safety
• Working Conditions
• Facilities, eg: power, network, roads, strategic systems
  

Student Announcements broadly affect all students, and are authorised by the Vice Chancellor, or a Deputy Vice Chancellor, or the Director, Central Student Administration, the Director, Public Relations and Brand Marketing, or the General Counsel and University Secretary.

These are tagged "Student Announcement" in the subject line, and include information on:

• Health and Safety
• Facilities, eg: power, network, roads, strategic systems
• OCSA Announcements - Announcements to students from the Office of Central Student Administration that that should be read by particular groups of students. These should be restricted to important administrative issues for students, for example enrolments, critical dates, assessments, etc.
• Teaching and Learning Announcements - Announcements relevant to the LMS (CE 6), Library, or other broad teaching and learning areas.
• Student Election Announcements - Announcements related to the annual student elections.

Academic Council Announcements broadly affect all staff, and are authorised by the President of Academic Council, or the General Counsel and University Secretary.

These are tagged “Academic Council Announcement” in the subject line and include:

• Academic Council summary of meetings
• Information on Academic Council business, policies, etc.
• Requests for comment on proposed policies

Guild Announcements broadly affect all students, may be authored by the Guild President or the Guild General Manager, but require authorisation by a Deputy Vice Chancellor.

These are tagged "Guild Announcement" in the subject line, and are about campus-wide events or issues of relevance to most students.

Events

If an event is to be publicised via Murdoch Announcements, the message content should be authorised by the Director, Public Relations and Brand Marketing, before distribution.

News & Events

Announcements to staff and students, that are not suitable for distribution as a Murdoch Announcement, may be posted on the News & Events system.

Categories available in the News & Events system include: Events, Positions Vacant. News items for each of the categories are posted by authorised Editor Contacts, whose details can be found at https://wwwforms.murdoch.edu.au/pls/news/NEWSQAU$.Startup

For selected categories, News & Events also allows users to opt-in for email notification when a new item of interest is posted.

Prohibited Murdoch Announcements

The Announcement facility is not intended for communications which are commercial, which target specific groups of people, or which deal with routine and repetitive activities. Inappropriate material includes:

• Sales of goods or services
• Announcements from clubs, societies or outside organisations
• Political announcements
• Non-Murdoch seminars and courses
• Material specific to a Division, Faculty, School, or Office
• Personal announcements, lost and found, etc.
• Email file attachments or lengthy messages. An appropriate announcement message may contain a link to the relevant Web pages.
• Routine or frequent messages, eg: meeting reminders, agenda lists and minutes of meetings, other than Murdoch Senate or Academic Council.