Reminder on policy on University public announcements (UMCO Memo)

11 April 2023

Due to the increasing number of incidents of forged/fake announcements and updates claiming to be from the University, its schools, offices, or employees, we would like to remind the community and the general public regarding the existing official policy on public announcements, updates, and other similar public communications.

1. University offices are reminded of the Protocol for Disseminating Public Announcements, Memos, and Publications, issued 6 July 2020. Specifically, offices are reminded that they are required to publish all official announcements, memoranda, letters, publications, forms, documents, and similar public announcements and documents on the University website, ateneo.edu, or on any officially-recognized Ateneo website/page.
   
   1. For a website or webpage to be considered an official Ateneo site/page, it must satisfy any one of the following conditions:
      
      1. Under a directory or page on the ateneo.edu or ateneo.net domain (ex. ateneo.edu/about)
      2. On an ateneo.edu or ateneo.net subdomain (ex. arete.ateneo.edu)
      3. Listed on the University directory, ateneo.edu/directory
   2. Even if created using an ateneo.edu account, Google Sites and Google Forms are not automatically considered official.
      
      1. A Google Site is considered official only if it is linked to the office website/directory page of the parent office, and vice versa (ex. LS ADAA internal site is linked to ateneo.edu/ls/adaa).
      2. For public Google Forms, we highly recommend that the forms be embedded on a page on ateneo.edu (ex. ateneo.edu/campus/residencehalls/apply).
   3. Links to pages, websites, or documents that use go.ateneo short links (go.ateneo.edu or go.ateneo.net) are NOT counted as official, unless the links go to pages that qualify as official Ateneo pages/sites as stated above.
2. Public updates or announcements, even if made on University-affiliated channels (email, social media accounts, or messaging apps), are considered official only if it is also published on an official University website/page.
3. Memos and documents sent via email are only considered official only if it is sent by an office ateneo.edu email address (as opposed to a personal ateneo.edu email address).

These guidelines aim to protect Ateneo, its offices, and its employees from misrepresentation by unscrupulous individuals and entities, as well as to help prevent misinformation and disinformation.

For your compliance and cooperation. Thank you.