Student Communications Guidelines and Protocols
Welcome to the Student Communications Guidelines and Protocols for Baruch College Faculty and Staff.
This website outlines the protocols and guidelines for communicating with students. There are many ways to communicate with students across campus. In most cases, connecting with your communications liaison in your division is step one in helping you identify the right tools to effectively reach your audience.
If you have important information you want to share with students, knowing the best communications tool to use to reach them isn’t always clear. These resources can help you target your message more effectively, direct to the most appropriate communications channel, and communicate with greater accuracy and efficiency. Start with your communications person in your division. Most departments/divisions have a point person for communications — a person who assists with communications efforts. Communications staff are also a great resource for best practices insight and how to optimize your message and communications tools.
Planning is key.
Many college-wide communications tools must be scheduled in advance. Be sure to plan ahead based on your unit’s production calendar.
Collaborate.
While you might feel the need to distinguish your message from the pack, your messaging actually may be enhanced or strengthened by appearing with similar events or related ideas of other units.
The College uses email as the primary means for communicating important information to students. College email is only for official college business. Use of College-wide email distribution lists should be solely used for information important to all members of the college community.
Mass email messages are a useful and convenient way of informing the campus and college communities. However, their potential for unnecessarily consuming resources and cluttering campus inboxes require that senders of such messages adhere to some guidelines. As such, mass emails must be approved or sent by authorized users only.
In some cases, mass email might be an appropriate tool, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for effectively communicating to the student community. There are many communications channels that are much more effective when used properly, and multiple tools can be used to reinforce your messaging across multiple channels when necessary. If mass email seems like the right solution for your message, complete the mass email request form to get started. Tips for sending out emails to students.
If your message does not meet all of the mass email criteria, please refer to the recommendations for commonly-requested tasks to identify the most effective communication tools for your message.
- Student emails are not made available to outside organizations other than as specified by legal or policy requirements.
- Mass emails to students with information about new courses or programs should only be sent to student email lists with prior approval of the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs or designee and only once or twice a semester. The list should only provide a list of the new courses and programs with links to the appropriate website(s) for more information.
OTHER METHODS TO COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS
| Method | Audience | Type | How to Submit |
| Bearcat Buzz Weekly Student Newsletter | All enrolled students | Promote events | Qualtrics |
| College Events Calendar | All students and campus community | Promote events | Coursedog |
| Campus Screens | Entire campus community | Promote events and Campus Life | |
| Baruch One | All students and campus community | Promote student success | Qualtrics |
| Navigate | All enrolled students | Promote events and student success | |
| Brightspace | All enrolled students | Promote academics |