Computer Resources & Electronic Communication Policy, Acceptable Use

I. Introduction

In keeping with the tradition of fostering academic freedom, Nassau Community College (hereinafter "the College" or "NCC") respects, encourages, and supports the right of any member of the college community to participate in dialogue and discourse to promote its educational mission. In support of this process, the College provides campus computing technologies, resources, and data networks.

The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of computer and information technology resources provided by NCC to students, faculty, staff, and other authorized individuals. Inappropriate use exposes the College to risks, including breach of computer security, exposure of restricted data, compromise of network systems/services, detriments to technology performance, institutional/brand damage and legal liability. NCC is committed to protecting students, faculty, staff, and the College from illegal or damaging actions by individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly.

II. Rights and Responsibilities

A. The College's Rights and Responsibilities
NCC provides computer facilities and related resources to support its educational mission. It is the responsibility of the user to abide by College guidelines as outlined below. Central to appropriate and responsible use is the stipulation that NCC data networks and computer resources shall be used in a manner consistent with the College policies; federal, state, and local laws; ADA guidelines; and contractual obligations. Computer facilities and related resources are intended for the sole use of College faculty, staff, students, and other authorized individuals. Such resources include but are not limited to host computer systems, personal/laptop computers and workstations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), data networks, software, databases, and files.

Use of NCC computing resources by unauthorized individuals is strictly prohibited.Users of Nassau Community College's institutional data networks and computer resources shall have no expectation of privacy in any data or communication transmitted, received, or stored while using these systems. In order to carry out its institutional mission and comply with its responsibilities under all applicable laws, the College reserves the right to monitor all employee usage of these systems.

The College requires compliance with applicable federal, state and local laws, including copyright, export and re-export laws, as a condition to system use. Except as expressly permitted, users shall not alter, delete or modify any attributions included within any hosted services. Users further shall not engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts the services, servers or networks provided. Student email account users shall comply with the terms and conditions set forth by the current email service provided in connection with those email services. For more information on the civil and criminal penalties for violations of Federal copyright laws, see Section G of this Policy, as well as the relevant provisions of the United States Copyright Law, which are available at the following website: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html.

The use of the College's data networks, computer resource facilities, and services is subject to and conditioned upon compliance with: College policies Federal, state and local laws, ADA guidelines Contractual obligations

B. Faculty, Student, and Staff Rights and Responsibilities
All members of the College community have the responsibility to use data networks and computer resources in an effective, efficient, ethical, and lawful manner. The following activities are examples of unethical, unacceptable behavior, and are in violation of College policy. These may include, but are not limited to, any attempt to:

• alter system software or hardware configurations; using personal wireless routers, switches, or hubs, or unplugging cables and hardware;
• access another person's account, private files, or email without that person's permission;
• violate rules or codes set by services subscribed to by the College;
• use data networks or computer resources to threaten or harass others;
• use the College systems for commercial or personal profit-making purposes;
• not comply with computer facilities and system policies, procedures, and protocol;
• use the College facilities or resources to violate the policies of other computer systems or organizations;
• download video or music applications for non-College business.

The use of a computer or other electronic equipment that is not the property of NCC (e.g., a personally-owned computer) in conjunction with NCC resources (e.g. the College data network) shall constitute the use of NCC computer resources, shall be governed by the Acceptable Use Policy for Data Networks and Computer Resources, and shall be the legal responsibility of the individual user.

C. Web Content Creators' Rights and Responsibilities

The Official College Website
The official website of the College contains public, employee and student information about NCC's mission, programs and services. All content under the College's website www.ncc.edu is deemed official and authorized. As such, the College administration has the sole right, responsibility, and obligation to provide oversight and final editorial control of content. The official website must follow the College's branding policies and guidelines which are available through the Office of Marketing and Communications.

Due to the dynamic nature of electronic publication via the web, the following guidelines must be adhered to when creating content for websites other than the College's official website:

Department-Created Content
It is the responsibility of the supervising administrator or chairperson (or his/her designee) for all oversight of the content in Administration, Alumni, Department, Staff and Student Activities websites. This must be done a minimum of twice a year by the appropriate oversight committee or individual assigned the responsibility for such oversight. They must insure that such websites do not contain official information. This includes but is not limited to course descriptions, programs of studies, college directories, etc. All references to official information must be made through referral links to the official College website.

Faculty-Created Content
Faculty of the College community have a right and are encouraged to establish an Internet presence, provided that the purpose of the Internet presence is consistent with the College mission and adheres to the provisions defined in this policy. Faculty web pages must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy for Data Networks and Computer Resources.

Student-Created Content
NCC does not provide access to web publishing for students, except in an instructional setting.

D. Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities
The College respects the intellectual and creative contributions made by the faculty, staff and students, and recognizes that they are vital to the academic enterprise. Furthermore, the College adheres to the principle of respect for the right of acknowledgment, and the right to determine the form, manner, and terms of publication and distribution of intellectual property.

Since electronic information is transient and may easily be reproduced, respect for the work and personal expression of others is critical. Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the College community.

Images of people, places, graphics and logos on the ncc.edu web site are either the property of the College or used with permission. Unless authorized by the Office of Marketing and Communications, the use of these images by web developers or the downloading and use of these images by web users who browse the web is prohibited, except in the course of normal business operations. Unauthorized use of the images may violate copyright and privacy laws and statutes.

E. Electronic Mail Usage Policy
THE COLLEGE WILL NEVER (UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES) ASK VIA AN EMAIL FOR YOUR USER NAME, PASSWORD, OR PERSONAL/FINANCIAL INFORMATION.

Faculty, staff, and other authorized users of NCC email who respond to phishing emails shall be subject to temporary or permanent loss of email privileges.

All accounts issued to individuals are intended for the sole use of those individuals and are non-transferable. Individual account holders are responsible for all usage on their assigned accounts, hold a position of trust, and must preserve the security and confidentiality of the information they use.

Based on the reliance and acceptance of electronic communications, email messages and portal announcements are considered an official means of communication with students, faculty, and staff of Nassau Community College. Employees and students are expected to comply with this policy when using NCC email and portal systems. All users are assigned an official college username and password combination for accessing email and portal systems and an official College email address for receiving and sending email messages. The college expects that students, faculty, and staff will use their official College email accounts to receive and read email messages and portal announcements on a frequent and timely basis. Students, faculty, and staff are not absolved from the responsibilities associated with the contents of electronic communications if electronic communications are not received and read on a frequent and timely basis. Students, faculty, and staff are expected to maintain their own email inboxes and manage their email disk storage usage.

Prohibited Activities

Prohibited email activities include but are not limited to the following:

• Unauthorized use of another individual’s account
• Performing an act that will interfere with the normal operations of computers or networks on campus
• Creating and/or distributing chain letters
• Impersonation (misrepresenting yourself as another individual)
• Violations of official College policies and applicable laws
• Distributing classified, commercial, or political advertisements
• Distributing unsolicited and/or unauthorized mass mails (spamming) unrelated to College business, events, or announcements

F. College Intranets
The College Intranet is intended to provide the faculty and staff access to services that support the operational needs of the College community and information disseminated by means of a role-specific criteria. Access to the content is role-based and is determined by one's logon profile (e.g., as Faculty or Administrator).

G. Compliance With The Higher Education Opportunity Act
The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) requires the College to address unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials, including unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing. In order to meet the College's obligations under this Act, the College shall disseminate the following statement to students, faculty and staff on a regular basis:

The College strictly prohibits the users of its networks from engaging in unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials, including unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing. Anyone who engages in such illegal file sharing is violating the United States Copyright law, and may be subject to criminal and civil penalties. Under federal law, a person found to have infringed upon a copyrighted work may be liable for actual damages and lost profits attributable to the infringement, and statutory damages of up to $150,000. The copyright owner also has the right to permanently enjoin an infringer from further infringing activities, and the infringing copies and equipment used in the infringement can be impounded and destroyed. If a copyright owner elected to bring a civil lawsuit against the copyright infringer and ultimately prevailed in the claim, the infringer may also become liable to the copyright owner for their attorney's fees and court costs. Finally, criminal penalties may be assessed against the infringer and could include jail time, depending upon the severity of the violation.

Students should be aware that unauthorized or illegal use of College computers (such as engaging in illegal file sharing and distribution of copyrighted materials), is an infraction of the Student Code of Conduct and may subject them to disciplinary measures.

To explore legal alternatives to unauthorized downloading, please consult the following website: http://www.educause.edu/legalcontent

III. Reporting, Investigations, and Sanctions
Students, faculty, staff or other authorized individuals who use computer resources for improper purposes shall be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge and/or expulsion. Any person who receives material on his/her computer which he/she believes violates a College policy should contact the Office of Marketing & Communications. Any other concerns or inquiries regarding perceived violation of the Acceptable Use Policy for Data Networks and Computer Resources should likewise be reported to the Office of Marketing & Communications (telephone: 516-572-9634; email: Marketing-Communications@ncc.edu) for appropriate action. Personnel designated by the Administration and in consultation, when necessary, with the Office of Public Safety will investigate alleged violations of the policies articulated herein. While an alleged violation is under investigation, computing privileges may be suspended. Where a confirmed violation is serious or persists, a restriction of computing privileges may be imposed, temporarily or permanently, by the College. Cases involving violations of statutory law will be turned over to the Office of Public Safety or to the appropriate authorities and may be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties.