Overview
On 9/30/2026, Dartmouth is making a change to email authentication. All emails that are sent as something@dartmouth.edu must be sent from a pre-approved email system or they will be delivered to the Junk/Spam folder. There is a long list of pre-approved email systems such as Microsoft Exchange, Google GSuite, Canvas, EMS, MailChimp, and hundreds of other platforms. These services have already been set up to send Dartmouth authenticated email by sending from an approved IP address (SPF) or by digitally signing the emails (DKIM).
This generally does not impact individual users sending email, but is relevant for offices, departments, clubs, athletics teams, etc. that are using third-party tools (newsletter platforms, event registration systems, mass-mailing services) and sending email on behalf of dartmouth.edu addresses.
What is changing and why
Dartmouth is moving its email authentication policy, DMARC, to quarantine. We have been in a reporting mode for the last 6-months. This change means that email claiming to come from a dartmouth.edu address will need to be authenticated. Any mail failing authentication will be routed to the recipient's Junk/Spam folder instead of being delivered to the inbox.
This change is being to improve our email security. Dartmouth will have a higher degree of trust that the messages being delivered to your inbox are legitimate. This helps protect our community from fraud, abuse, and phishing.
What you need to do
If you are preparing to send a bulk email, ensure you send test emails to confirm they land in people's inbox. This is particularly important for any new service because it probably has not already been pre-approved and you will need to work with the Email team to set it up for authenticated emails. Please plan ahead; this generally takes some back and forth with the vendor so it can take up to a week to setup. For more information on email authentication see Authenticating-Emails-DMARC-Requirements-SPF-DKIM.
If you would like to set up or validate a sending service, please open a ticket at https://infrastructure.dartmouth.edu/ by using the General Request button.