This policy defines the use of email for official communications to all University of Massachusetts Amherst students. Its provisions apply to all graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in credit courses; they do not apply to faculty and staff, or to non-credit students.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has established email as a means of sending official information to students enrolled in University courses. To support this objective, the Office of Information Technologies (OIT) provides an email account to all students.

• The University will send official communications only to official UMass Amherst email addressees provided by OIT. This applies to all credit-seeking undergraduate and graduate students.
• Students are expected to check their University email on a regular basis to ensure that they are staying current with all official communications.
• Students may have email redirected from their official UMass Amherst email address (@student.umass.edu for undergraduates) to another email address at their own risk. OIT is not responsible for the handling of email by departmental servers or by outside vendors not contracted to provide official services.

• The Chief Information Officer has the overall oversight for the implementation and enforcement of this policy.
• OIT is responsible for providing and maintaining official University of Massachusetts Amherst email addresses for all students.
• Students are responsible for activating their OIT Account and email service. Students who do not activate their OIT Account will not be able to access the course registration system.
• Students are responsible for reading their email on a regular basis.
• The content of any official communication is the responsibility of the originating office or department.
• Students are expected to adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy when using UMail and other computing services provided by OIT.