Purpose 

The Retiree Email Account Policy is intended to balance the potential for a continued relationship between retirees and Bates College and the need to protect the security of campus documents. Many staff and faculty handle confidential correspondence associated with processes in their departments, so when they retire, it is essential that we protect this confidential information. This policy supports the continued responsibilities by faculty to former students and colleagues, and continuity in departmental processes by providing account access on request to both faculty and staff retirees.

Scope 

This policy applies to Bates faculty and eligible staff retirees. This policy does not extend to any faculty or staff member who leaves the College through any process other than retirement. An employee is considered eligible if they have worked a minimum of 5 continuous years, not in an on-call or per diem position, and their years of continuous service plus their age is at least 70 years. 

Account-holders have a responsibility to use this resource in an efficient, ethical, and lawful manner.  Each individual assumes personal responsibility. This responsibility involves maintaining the confidentiality of the account password to assure the continued security of the account and all information contained within and it is the responsibility of that holder to ensure compliance with the College Acceptable Use Policy. 

The College owns all Bates email accounts and reserves the right to revoke email privileges at any time to protect information security, system integrity, and operational continuity. 

Process and Eligibility

Due to the nature of their position and the need to access student records, Faculty retiring with emeritus status will be granted continued access upon request. 

Retiring staff having a continuing, though unpaid, relationship with the College may also have continued access to existing accounts. This is expected to be a rare situation requiring communication between the department head and the Vice President for Information & Library Services.

Retiring staff who do not have a continuing relationship with the College but want to continue receiving email from the Staff Email List can do so by providing a personal email address to Human Resources during their off-boarding process. 

Upon Retirement

When an email address is retired, a redirection message (out-of-office reply) will be created by the employee’s supervisor providing the Bates email address to which official departmental/College correspondence should be directed. This message may also include the retiree’s personal email address if they wish. No automatic forwarding of email to any address occurs. The redirection message will be active for 90 days. 

During this 90-day period, the departed employee’s supervisor may request access to the files and email. Such a request should be sent to the IT Service Desk in an email and the unit Vice President should be copied on the request. Once the unit Vice President has provided their approval, ILS will grant the request.

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^{Bates College Retiree Email Account Policy, Version 1.0, Effective: January 1, 2020}