About group email accounts

There are currently two types of group email accounts available:

• Forwarding accounts
• Interactive accounts – faculty and staff only and requires department's VP and ITS Security approval 

Forwarding Accounts

Forwarding accounts allow you to use an email address that is not tied to a particular person’s name. Mail sent to the address forwards directly to personal email accounts (up to 5 addresses). It can serve as a permanent point of contact for use in web pages and print publications. An example would be: bookclub@bc.edu with the messages forwarding to the organizer(s) of that group.

Interactive Accounts

There are a few instances where an interactive account is necessary. For example, the ITS Help Center has a group email account (help.center@bc.edu). When email is sent to the Help Center, staff work with the messages together by logging into the group email account with a username and password. Each staff member can see if a response has been sent and view the response in the group account’s sent folder.

Interactive group accounts pose significant security concerns since passwords are shared and are often not updated with changes to staffing. Interactive group accounts are subject to frequent security audits. Due to these concerns, Information Technology Services is working to eliminate the majority of the current interactive accounts and all requests for new group accounts will require the approval of the ITS Security team and the department's VP.

If an interactive group account is approved, an email account will be created in Exchange. Learn more about interactive group accounts.

Requesting a new group email account

Currently, academic and administrative groups, organizations, and departments, as well as registered student organizations can request group email accounts.

Alternatives to Group Email Accounts

Learn about alternatives to group email accounts at BC, such as BCPost Mailing List Service (listserv).

To request a new group email account:

• Registered student organizations: Print and fill out the Student Organization Group Email Account Request Form and have it signed by a representative from the Office of the Dean for Student Development (ODSD) in McElroy Commons. Then send it via campus mail to: Brian Bernier, Information Technology Services, St. Clements Hall 459.
  Note: Mail sent to a student organization group email account is automatically forwarded to up to 5 club representatives specified on the request form.
• Academic or Administrative: Fill in the online Academic or Administrative Group Email Account Request Form. Note: Interactive accounts require department's VP and ITS Security approval.

Please note that it may take 1-2 business days to complete your new group email account request. If you require a faster turnaround time, please email group.email.questions@bc.edu.

Learn about alternatives to group email accounts at BC, such as BCPost Mailing List Service (listserv).

Changing or deleting an existing group email account

To make changes to an existing group email account, such as updating ownership of a group email account, changing forward email addresses, or deleting a group email account, a group email account owner must send an email to group.email.questions@bc.edu with:

• Their name
• The full name of the group email account (for example: Help.Center@bc.edu)
• The question or request they have

Student organizations: Mail sent to a student organization group email account is automatically forwarded to up to 5 club representatives specified on the request form. When you need to change the list of club representatives receiving email for a group email account, a club officer must email group.email.questions@bc.edu to request the email address change.