myTC Message Center Guidelines
The myTC Message Center is intended to promote effective communication among students, faculty, and staff of information that is relevant for broad groups.
Posted messages should have an educational or work-related significance to many members of the community, with the exception of items in Bulletin Board categories.
There are three main types of messages (1) Announcements, (2) Managed Messages and (3) Bulletin Board, and within each main type there are several message categories. These main types of messages differ by who can post and email subscription defaults, as summarized below.
|
Message Type |
Who can post? |
Are users subscribed by default? |
Can users unsubscribe? |
|
Announcements |
A single small group of pre-authorized individuals |
yes |
no |
|
Managed Messages |
Several small groups of pre-authorized individuals - one for each category. |
no |
yes |
|
Bulletin Board |
Anyone |
no |
yes |
See below for more details about each message type and its categories.
Announcements are official messages from the College. Only certain pre-authorized users have access to post announcements. All official notifications under Announcements, such as Staff notices, College-wide emergency notifications, etc. appear in the myTC Message Center and are also distributed as emails to that category's target audience. You cannot unsubscribe from these announcement emails.
How to request announcement posting privileges
If you believe you should be granted privileges for posting Announcements on behalf of the College, please open a ticket in ServiceNow and request the Announcement Author role. Requests will be reviewed by a VP or Provost for your area.
Announcement Categories
There are four Announcement categories, as summarized below.
|
Announcement Category |
Target Audience |
|
Campus Announcements |
Messages posted to this category will be sent to all users, including all TC students, staff, and faculty. |
|
Employee Announcements |
Messages posted to this category will be viewable by and sent to all employees, including faculty and instructional staff. |
|
Faculty Announcements |
Messages posted to this category will be viewable by and sent to all faculty and instructional staff. |
|
Student Announcements |
Messages posted to this category will be viewable by and sent to all students. |
Managed Messages are messages sent by a user pre-authorized to represent a certain group in the College. For example, certain employees pre-authorized by the Office of Public Safety may post Public Safety updates or notices in the "Public Safety" category.
These messages appear in the myTC Message Center for all users and are also distributed as emails to users subscribed to the specific category. Users are not subscribed by default to any Managed Messages category but can subscribe to various categories as they wish.
How to request posting to a managed message category
To post a message in a Managed Message category, email the Category Contact and ask that they post your message. Each group will have its own rules about what they will approve to be posted in their category. See below for a list of Managed Message Category Contacts.
Managed Message Categories
All Managed Messages are assigned to a category. These categories are selected from a list on the form when the posting is entered. See below for a list of the Managed Message categories and the associated Category Contact.
|
Category |
Purpose |
Category Contact |
|
Career Resources |
Messages from the Office of Career Education and Professional Development, including employment opportunities, workshops and events, and career fairs for current TC students and alumni. |
|
|
Community and Diversity |
Announcements of events including Community Building, Diversity and Community Initiatives, lectures and talks with diversity/multicultural themes. , and other messages from groups such as the Office for Diversity and Community Affairs and the Office of International Student Services (OISS). |
|
|
Facilities Notices |
Official notices of elevator outages, sidewalk conditions, fire drills, etc. |
|
|
Student Affairs |
Information regarding upcoming student events and services from the Office of Student Affairs. |
|
|
Institutional Research |
Survey reminders, updates, and general information to the TC community from the office of Institutional Research. |
|
|
International Students and Scholars |
Messages of interest to the international community at TC from the Office of International Students and Scholars. |
|
|
Public Safety |
Messages from the Office of Public Safety concerning safety, security, and crime prevention information and activities. |
|
|
Technology Services and Alerts |
Notices from CIS/TCIT about planned and unplanned outages, information security alerts, and training and demo days. |
Any user can freely post to any category in the Bulletin Board area, given they adhere to the rules and guidelines outlined on this page.
All Bulletin Board messages appear in the Message Center for all users and are sent as emails for users who have actively subscribed to the specific category.
Users are not subscribed by default to any Bulletin Board category but can subscribe to various categories as they wish.
Bulletin Board Categories
All Bulletin Board messages are assigned to a category. These categories are selected from a list on the form when the posting is entered. See below for a list of the Bulletin Board categories and their intended use.
|
Childcare |
Messages from individuals seeking or offering childcare services. |
|
Course Offerings |
Notices about new TC courses. |
|
Employment Notices |
Government mandated employment notices. |
|
Events and Activities |
Messages regarding events and activities available to the TC community. |
|
Housing |
Messages from individuals either offering or looking for housing. These personal ads subject to guidelines of appropriateness and open to all. |
|
Items for Sale |
Messages from individuals offering items for sale. |
|
Lectures and Talks |
Messages regarding colloquia, lectures, and talks available to the TC community. |
|
Lost and Found |
Messages about items lost or found on campus. |
|
Music, Dance, and Theater |
Messages regarding music, dance, and theater performances open to the TC community. |
|
Non-TC Jobs and Services |
Non-TC related jobs and available services. |
|
Of Academic Interest |
Topics of academic interest to the TC Community. |
|
Research Participants and Volunteers |
For recruiting subjects for research studies via IRB-approved flyers, announcements and other information, which must include the approved IRB Protocol number. |
|
Workshops |
Notices about upcoming workshops at TC. |
General Rules and Guidelines
The following rules and guidelines apply to all message types and categories.
All messages posted to myTC Message Center must abide by TC policies in the Student Handbook and Student Code of Conduct and the faculty and staff policy compilations, including the Policy on Acceptable Use of Information Technology and they must reflect common courtesy and be respectful of all members of the community. Messages that willfully display inappropriate comments and language will be removed.
Messages are posted on an honor system. While there is no approval process, all messages are associated with the posting author.
Any user may flag a message if they feel it does not meet the Message Center Guidelines. If a message is flagged then the message will be reviewed and if it is found that it does not meet guidelines it will be removed.
If there are repeated incidents, posting privileges may be suspended and/or other disciplinary actions taken.
Message Center users who feel that their message(s) meet all guidelines yet were removed may send an email to the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs at odca@tc.columbia.edu to relay their concerns.
A message should not be posted more than once within one week. If a message is posted repeatedly the duplicate message(s) will be removed.
Messages do not expire. However, the Welcome tab on the portal will only show messages posted in the last 4 days. To see earlier messages, click "my preferences" and click a category, or click a category from the welcome page, then all messages of this category will be displayed.
Teachers College Convocation and Columbia University Commencement are free events, and tickets, which are made available at no cost, are NOT to be advertised on the Message Center to be purchased or sold. If tickets are advertised for sale, the message will be removed.
Help
For specific directions on using the Message Center, further information is available in the myTC Message Center area of the myTC portal.
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