The national office of the AAUP collects and maintains a database of member e-mail addresses. This database is used solely for the purpose of communicating with members. Such information may take the form of announcements, alerts, newsletters, election materials or any other vehicle to facilitate communication within the Association or to conduct the Association’s business.
Therefore, the following policies obtain:
- AAUP does not give, lend or sell member e-mail addresses to non-members, either individuals or organizations, for any purpose.
- AAUP does not share its database of member e-mail addresses directly with members of the Association, though indirect access may be made available for legitimate Association purposes. Indirect access is defined as access mediated through the national office or a third-party vendor. Indirect access is available for:
a. Election campaigns for national office
b. Official state conference business
- The AAUP has for years provided candidates for office with mailing labels at cost. While it seems equitable to provide for some form of email use by candidates, greater security and control is necessary, both because the Association has promised it to chapters providing this information and because excessive use of the same email address by a candidate would be deemed offensive by many. Mailing costs have guaranteed limited use of mailing labels; the same inherent constraint does not apply to email. Therefore, the following policy shall apply to the use of the Association’s database of e-mail addresses:
Indirect access to the AAUP database is available for election campaigns for national AAUP offices (Council or officers). Candidates for election may use the AAUP database to send one election-related message to eligible voters whose email addresses are in the AAUP database during the official period of each election (from the close of petition candidacy to the end of balloting). Election messages will be distributed through a third-party vendor. They will be neither edited nor altered in any way by the staff of the national office. There will be a charge for this service, as determined by the third-party vendor, which must be paid by the candidate in advance of the mailing.
- Conference officers and newsletter editors may make use of the appropriate portions of the Association’s e-mail database for legitimate conference business unrelated to elections. They do not, however, have direct access to the database; conference communications will be distributed without editing or alteration through an unmoderated conference listserv for each conference provided by the AAUP national office. The individual conference listserv will be updated biannually and allow for abstention from receiving unwanted email from the individual conferences. Additionally, e-mail addresses shall be made available to conference presidents and executive directors, with the provision that they agree to use them only for conference business, not to share them and not to use them on behalf of any candidate for election.
This policy is in addition to restrictions that are placed on the use of AAUP listservs as well as the use of employer emails contained in Newsletters, Listservs, Electioneering and AAUP Elections.
June 2007; updated December 2010