2019-2020 Student Handbook

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Computing and Network Resources, Acceptable Use of

Computing and networking resources are provided to Carroll College students, faculty and staff to further the educational goals of the college, increase productivity, and ensure better communication regarding college matters. These resources are to be used in a manner consistent with these goals.

Each Carroll computing resource user has responsibilities to all other computing resources users.

Among these responsibilities are:

  • To respect and value the right of privacy for all;
  • To recognize and respect the diversity of the population and opinions in the community;
  • To behave ethically; and
  • To respect computer resources.

Computing resources are limited. How each individual uses them may impact the work of other members of the community and beyond, as our campus network is connected to other networks worldwide. It is important that all users be aware of their individual obligations and of what constitutes proper use and behavior. All questions and concerns should be sent to the Director of Campus Computing & Information Technology (CCIT).

Use of Technology Resources

Carroll’s Technology resources are to be used only for legitimate and substantial educational and business purposes. The use of the Carroll College academic computing facilities is available to all registered students, faculty, and staff in support of the regular curricular and administrative functions of the college. Users are expected to use this privilege in a manner consistent with existing college policies and as specifically addressed in this Acceptable Use Policy. All campus computing and telecommunications systems are owned by the college and the type of activities that take place on them are determined by the administration of the college.

Any Carroll College full-time or part-time student, faculty or staff may use Carroll’s computer and telecommunications systems for any academic and administrative purpose. Personal use is also permitted unless specifically prohibited. College business and academic use take priority over personal use. CCIT will notify users if a need exists to limit personal use of resources to non-peak periods. No special permission is needed, nor are there any charges for use of computer time in the labs. Users are responsible for all charges incurred while using Carroll’s computer and telecommunication systems for personal use. No employee or student may use Carroll technology resources for profit-making ventures or on behalf of external organizations or persons unless such use is directly related to Carroll courses or to faculty/staff research or professional development. Use of the Colleague system is restricted to faculty and staff use only and only with permission from the Director of CCIT.

CCIT reserves the right to monitor network account activity to maintain system security, or to investigate reasonable suspicion of policy violations. Users should not presume the privacy of electronic communications.

Computer Use Guidelines

Specific prohibitions include, but are not limited to the following:

  1. Use of Carroll College technology is a privilege, not a right. This privilege is embodied in the responsible use of resources, including network bandwidth, ResNet access, CPU time, and disk space.
  2. For students, assigned class work has priority over personal use of lab facilities. Those using lab resources for recreation must relinquish their station if requested to do so by the lab monitors or residence life staff.
  3. Network accounts, copier and phone PIN numbers must be used ONLY by the assigned user and must be kept secure. ALL FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENT USERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MATERIAL AND CHARGES ORIGINATING FROM THEIR ACCOUNT AND PIN NUMBER. Never give your PIN or network account information to another person.
    • Students are ultimately responsible for ALL material originating from their phone PIN number, user account, personal computer, and/or dorm room network port. Students who take part in ResNet are encouraged to limit access to the computer resources in their room, and closely monitor all activity on their personal computer.
    • Faculty and staff users are ultimately responsible for ALL material originating from their phone and copier PIN numbers, user account, office computer, or office network. It is recommended that users log off of the network when they are not using their computer and that they limit access of their office computer to their individual work. Student workers should not be assigned to work on employee computers. Student workers should use assigned work-study computers.
  4. The use of the computer equipment, network account, PIN number or software of another member of the community without their express permission is trespassing and an invasion of privacy. This and other violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and software copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community.
  5. Users must abstain from actions wasteful of computer resources that alter the configurations of college equipment, destroy the integrity of computer-based information, or that compromise the privacy of users. Specific prohibitions include:
    • wide scale distribution of messages to inappropriate forums and mailing lists.
    • manuals, disks, and supplies must not be removed from the labs.
    • college-owned computing facilities may not be used for profit-making purposes.

Carroll College is not responsible for any fines or legal fees that may result from use or misuse of the college’s technology resources.

Prohibitions

Technology resource users may not attempt to gain access to college computer systems (from on or off campus), files, messages, communications, or documents of others unless they have a legitimate reason to do so. Accessing systems, files, messages, communications, or documents of others without a legitimate reason is inappropriate and is prohibited.

Technology resource users may not deliberately disrupt the performance of a computer system or a network, or attempt to “break” system security. This includes reconfiguring a system to make it unusable for others, or attempting to destroy or alter data or programs belonging to other users.

Specific prohibitions include, but are not limited to the following:

  1. Forgery of electronic mail messages.
  2. Reading, deleting, copying, or modifying the electronic files of other users without their permission.
  3. Sending harassing, obscene, offensive, abusive or other threatening electronic mail to another user.
  4. Viewing or printing obscene material on college computers or printers.
  5. System users may not use Carroll’s technology resources in any way that is intended to be insulting, offensive to other persons, or that reasonably could have been foreseen to have the effect of harassing or offending. Examples of forbidden transmissions include sexually-explicit messages, cartoons, or jokes; unwelcome propositions or love letters; ethnic or racial slurs; or any other message that can be construed to be harassment or disparagement of others based on their sex, race, color, sexual orientation, age, national origin, religion, creed, disability, marital status or other personal characteristics protected by law.
  6. Sending any type of chain letter or an unsolicited, “for-profit” message.
  7. Sending inappropriate or unnecessary email on a wide-scale basis. This includes all campus email distribution to the All Employees and All Students routing lists for non business or non-academic purposes.
  8. Intentional propagation of computer viruses, worms or any other similar program or file.
  9. Technology resource users should note that federal and state laws as well as college policies govern us all. The copyright laws of the United States and most other nations apply to information in computer files. You may not copy or redistribute software or other information that is copy righted without permission from the copyright owner.
  10. The use of college computing resources for commercial purposes without prior approval is prohibited. Requests for approval should be directed to the CCIT Director.

Monitoring

To protect the interests of students, employees and the college, Carroll reserves the right to monitor, retrieve, or store any material in the computer and networked resource systems of the college. Employees and students should assume that the contents of any message, document, or other matter sent through any Carroll system may be seen by Carroll administration and others with a legitimate need to know. Carroll reserves the right to access and disclose, for legitimate business, educational or legal reasons, any message, document, or other matter sent through the Carroll system.

Policy Violations

Violation of the acceptable use policy may result in disciplinary action, as appropriate, including the immediate suspension of system use privileges, with referral to appropriate college or criminal authorities for consideration of other penalties. Alleged violations involving students will be documented in an incident report and forwarded to the student discipline process. The CCIT Director will notify students if the Director believes they have violated this policy. Depending upon the nature and severity of the violation, the Director of CCIT may immediately suspend computer services pending completion of the college disciplinary process. This decision may be appealed to the Dean of Students and Retention. Alleged violations by college employees will be forwarded to the appropriate administrator for investigation and, if determined necessary, disciplinary action. These policies are intended to work in conjunction with existing policies within the Carroll College Student Handbook, the Carroll College Catalog, the Staff Handbook, and the Faculty Handbook that also can be applied toward enforcement of responsible computing resources use.