diff --git a/apps/dashboard/app/models/motd_file.rb b/apps/dashboard/app/models/motd_file.rb
index 7368593a77..8ff16a3d08 100644
--- a/apps/dashboard/app/models/motd_file.rb
+++ b/apps/dashboard/app/models/motd_file.rb
@@ -61,7 +61,17 @@ def exist?
   private
 
   def load(motd_uri)
-    motd_uri ? open(motd_uri).read : nil
+    uri = URI.parse(motd_uri)
+
+    case uri.scheme
+    when 'http', 'https'
+      uri.read
+    when nil
+      File.read(uri.to_s)
+    else
+      Rails.logger.warn("Unknown scheme for #{motd_uri}. No MOTD is loaded")
+      nil
+    end
   rescue Errno::ENOENT
     Rails.logger.warn "MOTD File is missing; it was expected at #{motd_uri}"
     nil
diff --git a/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_file_test.rb b/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_file_test.rb
index 7c953028c3..5a6fbc71c3 100644
--- a/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_file_test.rb
+++ b/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_file_test.rb
@@ -40,4 +40,13 @@ class MotdFileTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal '', motd_file.content
   end
 
+  test 'when rss is a remote source' do
+    with_modified_env({ MOTD_PATH: 'https://www.osc.edu/rss.xml', MOTD_FORMAT: 'rss' }) do
+      formatter = MotdFile.new.formatter
+      assert_not_nil(formatter.title)
+      assert_not_nil(formatter.content)
+      assert_not_nil(formatter.content.items)
+    end
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_test.rb b/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_test.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f05e64997..0000000000
--- a/apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_test.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-require 'test_helper'
-
-class MotdTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
-
-  test "test when motd valid" do
-
-    path = "#{Rails.root}/test/fixtures/files/motd_valid"
-    motd_file = MotdFile.new(path)
-    expected_file = File.open(path).read
-
-    assert_equal true, motd_file.exist?
-    assert_equal path, motd_file.motd_path
-    assert_equal expected_file, motd_file.content
-  end
-
-  test "test when motd empty" do
-    path = "#{Rails.root}/test/fixtures/files/motd_empty"
-    motd_file = MotdFile.new(path)
-
-    assert_equal true, motd_file.exist?
-    assert_equal path, motd_file.motd_path
-    assert_equal '', motd_file.content
-  end
-
-  test "test when motd missing" do
-    path = "#{Rails.root}/test/fixtures/files/motd_missing"
-    motd_file = MotdFile.new(path)
-
-    assert_equal false, motd_file.exist?
-    assert_equal path, motd_file.motd_path
-    assert_equal '', motd_file.content
-  end
-
-  test "test when motd nil" do
-
-    motd_file = MotdFile.new(nil)
-
-    assert_equal false, motd_file.exist?
-    assert_nil motd_file.motd_path
-    assert_equal '', motd_file.content
-  end
-
-end