University-issued @Huskers Email Guidelines
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln requires a university-issued @huskers.unl.edu email address for university administrative office communications for all undergraduate, graduate and professional students.
The university will provide each student with an official @huskers.unl.edu email account when they become eligible to enroll at the institution. The university administrative offices will begin sending communications to @husker.unl.edu email accounts at the time the student becomes eligible to enroll and will continue to do so until two months after the student is no longer active in their academic program. After that time, the university administrative offices may use other email accounts on record to contact the student. Only in cases of emergency or other extenuating circumstances when the university administrative offices are unable to contact the student via their @huskers.unl.edu email, may the university use alternative email addresses on record.
Assignment of student email addresses
Information Technology Services will issue each student a @huskers.unl.edu email address, which will be distributed when the student becomes eligible to enroll. Once the account information is provided, the student is responsible for using the account to receive university administrative office communications. The @huskers.unl.edu email address will be integrated with campus systems.
Exceptions
Big Ten CourseShare, Great Plains IDEA and AG*IDEA students who carry out all studies, educational activities and enrollment on another institution’s campus will not be assigned an @huskers.unl.edu email account. More information about these programs can be found at http://www.btaa.org/resources-for/faculty/courseshare/introduction and https://online.unl.edu/programs/IDEA.
Redirecting of email
Students may redirect their university email to another email address, but at their own risk. The university will not be responsible for email services provided by outside vendors. Having email redirected does not absolve a student from the responsibilities associated with communications sent to their official @huskers.unl.edu email address.
Expectations of student usage
The university recommends students check their official @huskers.unl.edu email address frequently to stay current with university administrative office communications. The university recommends checking email daily, as communications may be time-sensitive.
Expectations of university administrative offices
Administrative offices are expected to communicate with students through the official university email account. If students send communications to an administrative office via another email account, recipients may respond, but should not provide any information protected by FERPA in the response. Examples of student information protected by FERPA include:
- Personally identifiable information, such as social security number, username, account numbers, etc.
- Student contact information
- Information about academic course work
- Academic program information
- Personal demographic information, such as birth date, gender, ethnicity, etc.
Alternative methods of communication
When administrative offices are unable to contact a student via multiple attempts using the @huskers.unl.edu email account, alternative communication methods may be used. This may be through another recorded email address, text or phone number:
- Other email on record: The personal email address is the primary alternative, the work email address is the secondary alternative.
- Text: Students are able to opt-in via MyRED to receive text messages from the university. If a student has not opted in to receive texts, they are not to be notified via this method. Texting students should be used as a last resort option for critical information requiring an immediate response deemed necessary for continued pursuit of their academic program.
- Phone: When contacting a student via phone, the University should verify the student’s identity.
Privacy and Security
According to FERPA (§99.31(c)) regulations, when communicating electronically with a student about educational records, the institution is responsible for authenticating the identity of the student. Thus, university administrative offices will use the institutional email address for any communications via email with the student. If the student chooses to forward these emails to another address, the disclosure is by the student and not an issue for the institution.
Students have the option to place a directory restriction on their record in MyRED to remove their information from the public set of directory data.
The institution should refrain from sending personally identifiable information (PII) to students through email communications to help protect them from identity theft. More information about PII can be found at https://its.unl.edu/ssn.
Faculty are encouraged (but not required) to communicate with students through the @huskers.unl.edu email. It adds an extra-layer of liability protection for faculty with regards to FERPA and other privacy issues.
University provided email addresses are protected by spam filtering and url defense software. Additionally, @huskers.unl.edu email credentials are provided by the university and are fully supported by IT security.