Network and Email Account Policy

Macalester College Accounts

The mechanism for official Macalester College communication for all community members (faculty, staff, and students) is the macalester.edu email address and network account which provide access and privileges for use in connection with all business and instructional activities of the College. These accounts and all work-related electronically stored information are legally the property of Macalester College, not the individual user who is assigned an account. Users do not have a right of privacy in communications transmitted from or stored on College information technology resources. Community members are responsible for receiving, reading, complying with and responding to official email communications from the College. Community members are also responsible for protecting student data in accordance with FERPA and complying with all applicable laws, regulations, and institutional policy.

Individual account passwords should never be shared with anyone. The owner is responsible for updating and safeguarding their own passwords. Passwords must meet or exceed the password policy and multi-factor authentication is required at all times. Failure to comply with Macalester’s password or multi-factor authentication requirements will result in loss of account access.

Students

All students are assigned a Macalester College email address and all official College communications are sent to this email address. A student’s failure to receive or read in a timely manner official communications sent to the student’s official email address does not absolve the student from knowing and complying with the content of the official communication. Procedures for accessing email are published on the Student Technology Checklist.

Employees

Employees (faculty, emeriti and staff) may use or distribute work-related email or other electronically stored information only as is appropriate in the performance of the employee’s work responsibilities. Macalester’s information technology resources are not to be used for personal matters.

Non-Employees

Parties that are affiliated with the college, also known as non-employees (NOEM), are assigned a Macalester College email address. These accounts are to be used only for business purposes.

Terms of Acceptable Use

Macalester expects individuals to use their assigned accounts in a manner that does not violate College policy or community standards, violate the privacy rights of its employees and students, disclose confidential information of the College or otherwise detract from or cause harm to the College and/or individuals employed or associated with the College. This prohibition includes any email that violates the law. In addition, Macalester employees may not disguise or fraudulently represent their identity when using Macalester’s information technology resources. All access and activity within Information Technology resources is monitored and logged.

Accessing Accounts

Macalester has the right and ability to access individual accounts, despite the fact that a user has established login credentials. However, Macalester and its agents or custodians of the email system and network will not access or disclose the content of an individual’s Macalester email account unless the College has a good faith belief that the terms of acceptable use have been violated. In addition to a good faith belief that a violation has occurred, permission must be secured from the Authorized Leader designated for each constituency:

• Faculty: Provost & Dean of Faculty, Backup: Associate Dean of the Faculty*
• Students: Vice President, Student Affairs, Backup: Associate Dean of Students*
• Staff (all others): Director, Employment Services, Backup: VP for Administration and Finance*

*In situations where the Authorized Leader listed above is unable to perform this duty in the manner or time frame needed, an Officer of the College will assume decision authority.  

Situations That May Constitute Grounds for Access

Although not a complete list, the following conditions represent potential situations for access:

• Suspected violation of the law, regulation, or College policy.
• Enforceable governmental request, a subpoena, or legal request (e.g., eDiscovery legal hold) to which the College is required to respond.
• Suspected criminal conduct or to protect against harm to the rights, property, or safety of the College, its employees or the public.
• When information is necessary to conduct College business and the user of the account is unavailable (e.g. health or safety emergency)

Unacceptable Access to an Individual’s Email Account

• For any reason other than a suspected violation of the terms of acceptable use, or a safety or emergent situation.
• Permission from the Authorized Leader is not requested or is not given in writing.
• To bypass engaging an individual in conversation when that individual is available and there is not sufficient evidence to suggest an emergency situation.

Suspension or Transfer of Access

If a user is on leave from employment at Macalester, for any reason, a manager may request delegate access to that individual’s account for business continuity purposes. Managers will need to demonstrate to the Authorized Leader why delegate access to a user’s account is warranted and to the extent possible, access will be tailored to the need. Individual account passwords will not be shared or provided by any individual of the community.

Additionally, managers may request and be granted delegate access to an individual’s email account upon termination of employment for business continuity purposes. In these instances, the manager will be granted delegate access for a period no greater than 30 days after an employee’s last day of employment. Exceptions will be made on a case by case basis with compelling business rationale. Upon conclusion of this period, the account and its contents will be terminated.

Termination of Accounts

Student Account Termination

Accounts of students who graduate will be closed on October 1st of the following graduation year. Information on how to migrate away from Google Workspace prior to account termination can be found on the Graduates Technology Checklist. 

Accounts for students leaving for reasons other than Graduation or Leave of Absence are disabled at the beginning of the next semester. 

Employee Account Termination

Accounts for an employee who terminates employment with Macalester, for whatever reason, will have access revoked on the last day of employment. Information on how to migrate personal information away from Google Workspace prior to account termination can be found in our Self Service Portal, KI 1176 Technology Checklist: Exiting Employee.

Non-Employee Account Termination

Accounts for a NOEM who terminates their relationship with Macalester, for whatever reason, will follow the same process as a regular employee account.

Access after Termination

Account access after termination is not permitted in order to comply with laws, regulations, institutional policy, and software license agreements. This includes students’ legal guardians who will not be provided access in order to comply with FERPA. In the case of death of any constituent, account access will not be provided to 3rd parties, family, or anyone else unless there is a legal order to do so.

In all cases, no person may retain a copy of any private or confidential material or electronically stored information after termination. Individuals accessing, or sharing this material unlawfully will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.