Mizzou Mass Email Policy

5:065 Mizzou Mass Email Policy

Revised: 09/25/2025

Responsible Office
Mizzou Marketing and Communications

POLICY STATEMENT

Use of mass email is restricted to instances at the institutional level identified in this policy.

DEFINITIONS

“Internal Mass Email” is any email to all or a substantial portion of at least one of three primary campus audiences: students, faculty, staff (e.g. President’s Distinguished Lecture and State of the University invitations or operational updates pertaining to Human Resources, Parking, etc.). This definition does not apply to internal emails being sent to members of individual academic or business units from members of those units.

“External Mass Email” is any email to external audiences in which the content is the same for all recipients (newsletters, fundraising, advertising, etc.).

PROCEDURES

Internal Mass Email

The distribution of email messages to mass audiences on campus must be occasional only and should not be considered for emails of a recurring nature (such as newsletters). To be approved under this policy, internal mass emails require the use of curated lists of email addresses provided by Mizzou Marketing and Communications or an entity approved by Mizzou Marketing and Communications.

Internal mass email requests are evaluated prior to approval using the following criteria:

  • Email messages intended for mass internal distribution must be determined to have a considerable impact upon most of the intended audience. This impact may pertain to official university business, the university’s mission, public safety, university operating status, communication of key university policies or legal obligations, official university events and invitations, or other information deemed by Mizzou Marketing and Communications to hold significant and/or crucial importance to faculty, staff, and students.

Internal mass emails must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Originate from administration/leadership in a department, division, or school and be approved by the Mizzou Marketing and Communications News and Information and/or Digital Service teams.
  • Promotional announcements and other messages of a noncritical nature – other than those in the Advertising Exceptions section below – are not approved for mass email.  The following options might be available for promotional announcements to the university community: Mizzou Info; Show Me Mizzou; appropriate departmental newsletters; mailings; university web pages; the Mizzou Events Calendar or departmental calendars; or posted to an appropriate distribution list with permission of the list owner.
  • Internal emails to student audiences for which the list of students is extracted from the student information system must be reviewed and approved by the Mizzou Marketing and Communications Student Communications team.
  • All emails must be reviewed for adherence to university branding, style, and accessibility and approved through the appropriate college, school, or division director of communications.
  • The Mizzou Marketing and Communications News and Information or Digital Service teams may edit all submitted content in accordance with brand, style, and accessibility guidelines before being published.

Request approval for mass email distribution to employees or students 

Advertising Exceptions

At specific times of the year, various campus units offer special discounts for faculty, staff, or students (e.g., athletic events, concerts, Mizzou Store events). After exploring other advertising/promotional options, the sender may request approval for an internal mass email from the Mizzou Marketing and Communications News and Information and/or Digital Service teams. Recipients must be allowed to opt out or unsubscribe from receiving advertising emails. The sending unit will be required to fund this use of the mass email service.

Request an advertising exception 

 

External Mass Email

External recipients must have an existing relationship with the university through which they have expressed an interest in or subscribed to receive information about the topic of the email.  This includes alumni, donors, families, friends of the university, and subscribers to university-related newsletters and subscription-based listservs.

Mass emails to prospective students for both credit and non-credit courses and programs are not covered by this policy and must be approved and coordinated through Mizzou Admissions, the Graduate School, or Mizzou Online.

Mass emails to alumni and donors must be approved by Mizzou Advancement and use email addresses and other contact information maintained by them. Emails must be coordinated through the Mizzou Advancement email platform, which allows all recipients to opt out or unsubscribe. This is required to assist the university in complying with applicable laws or requirements concerning communications privacy and spam, and to improve the effectiveness and impact of messages sent from the university to external audiences.

All other external mass emails must be approved by Mizzou Marketing and Communications.

All mass emails to external groups, whether to alumni, donors, families, friends of the university or others, must:

  • Be reviewed for university branding, style, and accessibility, and approved through the appropriate college, school, or division director of communications.
  • Be sent from an approved university mail platform that allows all recipients to opt out or unsubscribe.
  • Comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

 

RESOURCES

Request approval for mass email distribution to external audiences

Ask for additional help understanding the Mizzou Mass Email Policy