Student Web Page Policy

 

 

 

1.  Appropriate And Inappropriate Use of Web Pages

1.1  Appropriate Use

• NSU's web resources may be used for legitimate NSU purposes only and must be accordance with all other university policies and procedures.

• Student web pages are expected to be in compliance with all laws, reflect appropriate judgment in the content so as to not embarrass or bring discredit to NSU.

1.2  Inappropriate Use

NSU web resources shall not be used for:

• Supporting, establishing, or conducting any private business operation or commercial activity;
• Conducting personal activities unrelated to any NSU or student educational purpose unless otherwise allowed by this policy;
• Attempting to gain unauthorized access to any portion of any system or using NSU computer resources, information technologies, and networks as a staging area to attempt to gain unauthorized access to any other system or account;
• Violating NSU's policy of prohibiting discrimination against individuals on the basis of race, sex (including sexual harassment), religion, age, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, physical, mental, or sensory disability, marital status, sexual orientation, and status as a Vietnam-era or disabled Veteran;
• Intentionally disseminating, accessing, or providing a hyperlink to obscenity, as that term is defined by the law, unless such activities are directly related to an employee's legitimate research or scholarship purpose or to a student's completion of an academic requirement;
• Sending unsolicited electronic mail (e.g., "spam") in violation of laws or in quantities that interfere with NSU's or another's server. Senders who anticipate sending large numbers of unsolicited electronic mail messages at one time are responsible for consulting with the appropriate server and network administrator in advance to determine whether or not the sending of the mail is likely to cause a malfunction in a server;
• Engaging in political activities that violate state law (state law prohibits the use of state facilities or public resources for the purposes of assisting in an election campaign or for the promotion or opposition to a ballot proposition);
• Destroying, altering, compromising the integrity or security, or making inaccessible NSU computer resources, information technologies, and networks;
• Utilizing NSU resources with the purpose of intentionally interfering with others' use of computing resources, information technologies, or network resources or conduct of NSU business;
• Compromising the privacy of users of the computer resources, information technologies, and networks;
• Violating copyright law (thus, information technology and network users who do not hold the copyright on a work must have permission to publish information, graphics, cartoons, photographs, or other material, or the publication must be otherwise permitted under copyright law);
• Violating trademark law;
• Violating any federal, state, or local law;
• Copying of software in violation of a license or when copying is not authorized; or
• Violating any NSU policy.
• Web facilities may not be used for unauthorized commercial purposes or personal gain.
• Personal web pages may not be used for personal gain, cause celebre, and may not leverage the University’s image.
• The home page must include the name and e-mail address of the person responsible for the content of the page(s).
• The home page must contain a link to return to the University's home page.
• All home pages must contain the following disclaimer: "The content of this page is the responsibility of the author and has not been reviewed or approved by Northwestern State University."
• Content on Personal Web Pages must not conflict with the ideals and mission of the University and must comply with the spirit and specific content of the NSU Student Handbook Code of Conduct. Such things as intentional misrepresentation, racial or sexual harassment, profane or obscene language, sexually explicit material including nudity and other policy violations are prohibited. Personal web pages must not depict, describe, or advocate anything that is illegal or does not meet University standards. Links to other web sites and computers are also covered under this item. Thus, a page may be judged in violation if it contains links to a page that is found in violation. All pages, and all of their contents, are subject to existing NSU policies as well as local, state and federal laws.
• The content of all pages must respect intellectual property rights. For example, no copyrighted material may be shown on pages unless permission has been obtained in writing.
• No commercial business endeavors are to be conducted through personal pages on the University system.

2.  Compliance and Violations

 

NSU student web pages will be periodically reviewed to ensure compliance with this policy. Those web pages that are not in compliance with this policy will be brought to the attention of the Director of Information Systems who shall be the sole judge in determining compliance. Web pages that are determined to be in violation of this policy will be disabled and the student will be notified via the NSU student e-mail account of the nature of the violation.

Students who publish web pages found in violation of this policy or any other applicable NSU policy may lose web publishing privileges and be reported to the Vice President of Student Affairs for appropriate administrative action in accordance with the current Student Handbook Code of Conduct.