Purdue’s official email policy states, “Users may forward their Purdue University email to another email address, but any User who does so expressly assumes all responsibility for delivery beyond the @purdue.edu domain.”

This means purdue.edu email addresses can be forwarded to third-party email addresses such as those from Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo.

“When Purdue Student Government proposed outsourcing student emails to Google Apps for Education, we found that Purdue’s policy on forwarding email was unclear to many,” said Jamie Steiner, executive director of strategic planning and assessment for Purdue Student Government (PSG).

“The policy had been run around the rumor mill for a long-enough period of time that students, faculty and staff did not know the University’s official position on the matter. A muddy issue for students, faculty and staff is now being made clear and therefore PSG finds this statement as a win for the student body,” Steiner said.

Forwarding purdue.edu messages to another email address is permitted and can be configured in a few simple steps. By doing so, users assume responsibility for message delivery beyond the purdue.edu address and are urged to treat the information with the same security precautions as they would electronic statements for credit cards or bank accounts.

“ITaP worked with Purdue Student Government delegates to identify this misconception about Purdue’s email policy, and we are now working together to resolve it,” said Julie Kercher-Updike, associate vice president of customer relations for ITaP, Purdue’s central information technology organization.

“We’ll continue to monitor the number of students who forward their mail off campus. This is a step in the right direction toward making a decision about third-party email usage at Purdue,” Kercher-Updike said.

Writer: Nick Rogers, technology writer, Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), (765) 496-8204, rogersn@purdue.edu

Last updated: Feb. 10, 2010

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