The Claremont Colleges
Policy Regarding Appropriate Use of
Campus Computing and Network Resources
An overall guiding mission of
The Claremont Colleges is education in an environment where the free exchange
of ideas is encouraged and protected. The Claremont Colleges make available
computing and network facilities (CNF) resources for use by the Colleges’
students, faculty and staff. These services are provided for educational
purposes and to carry out the legitimate business of the Colleges.
The Colleges and members of the college communities are expected to observe Federal, State and local laws that govern computer and telecommunications use, as well as the Colleges’ regulations and policies. You must not use campus computing or networking resources or personal computing resources accessed through campus network facilities to collect, store or distribute information or materials, or to participate in activities that are in violation of federal, state or local laws or other Colleges policies or guidelines. These include, but are not limited to, policies and guidelines regarding intellectual property and sexual or other forms of harassment.
Computing and network facilities
resources users are required to use these resources within the Colleges’
standards of conduct. Individuals with expert knowledge of information systems
or who make extensive use of these facilities, or with a position of trust
regarding these facilities will be held accountable to a higher standard.
Responsible, considerate, and
ethical behavior expected by the Colleges extends to use of computing and network facilities resources,
and networks throughout the world to which electronic access has been provided.
These CNF resources include but are not limited to:
OWNERSHIP
The Colleges retain absolute ownership rights of the CNF
resources. Such resources are not owned by a department or by any individual.
CNF resources leased, licensed, or purchased under research contracts or
grants, are administered under the terms of this
Policy for as long as they remain within the lawful
possession or control of the
Colleges. CNF resources provided to on-campus residences
are also owned, operated and provided by the Colleges.
Your
documents, files and electronic mail stored on a College-owned networked
computer or server are normally accessible only by you. However, any file or document placed on a
College-owned computer or network is subject to access pursuant to this Policy,
and thus, should not be regarded as private or confidential. The system managers at both CINE (Claremont
Intercollegiate Network Effort) and within the individual campus IT
organizations have the ability to monitor traffic and directly view any file as
it moves across the network, and they must occasionally do so to manage campus
network resources. In short, files may be monitored without notice in the ordinary
course of business to ensure the smooth operation of the network. All staff
members working in information technology have clear guidelines that prohibit
violations of privacy and confidentiality and, in the normal course of their
work, they do not view the contents of user files or e-mail. However, you
should be aware that authorized College personnel will take appropriate steps
to investigate when there is a suspicion of inappropriate use of campus
computing or networking resources. This may include monitoring network traffic,
its contents, and examining files on any computer system connected to the
network.
You should
also know that all files on shared (i.e., networked) systems, including e-mail
servers, are backed up periodically on schedules determined by each College.
Backup tapes are preserved for lengths of time also determined by individual
College operating procedures. These tapes can be used to restore files that you
have deleted accidentally. This means that the files on the tapes are also available
to someone else with reason and authority to retrieve them.
Troubleshooting on the campus network, as well as planning for enhancements, requires the collection of detailed data on network traffic. CINE regularly runs monitoring software that records and reports on the data that is transported across the campus networks. The reports include the origin and destination addresses, and other characteristics of files, including the URLs of the World Wide Web sites that are contacted. This data is accessed and used only by authorized IT staff members responsible for network performance, operations and planning. You should also be aware that many Web host machines on the Internet collect and log information about you and your identity when you visit their sites. This information may include, but is not limited to, information about the computer you are using, its address, and your e-mail address.
Many educational
and business activities at the Colleges require network access to resources on
the Internet. To ensure adequate bandwidth to these sites for the Colleges’
primary educational and business purposes, CINE and campus IT staff may
restrict the amount of traffic to particular sites and the amount of traffic of
specific types.
From time to time these network monitoring activities may
allow systems managers to identify individuals whose activities downgrade the
performance of the campus network or a segment of the network, or which appear
to violate the general guidelines for appropriate use of campus computing and
network resources. In such instances, a CINE staff member or a member of your
own College’s IT staff may ask you to cease these activities. If you continue
such activities, or if they include illegal activities, appropriate College
authorities may be notified. In extreme cases, network privileges may be
revoked on an interim basis pending resolution of the issue. The individual
campuses determine specific corrective or disciplinary actions.
Individuals entrusted with or that inadvertently discover logins
and passwords are expected to guard them responsibly. These passwords are not
to be shared with others. The same policy applies to door codes for
restricted-access rooms/areas. Those who need logins or door codes can make a
formal request to the administrator of those codes/passwords. Passwords may
be used for the purpose of security, but the use of the password does not
affect the Claremont Colleges ownership of electronic information.
Access to CNF resources is a privilege, which is allowed
only to the Colleges’ authorized personnel and students. All users must
understand and abide by the responsibilities that come with the privilege of
use. Such responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. You must understand and comply with all applicable federal,
state, and local laws.
2.
You must not
intentionally seek information about, browse, copy, or modify non-public files
belonging to other people, whether at a
3.
You are authorized to
use only computer resources and information to which you have legitimately been
granted access. Sharing your passwords with others is expressly forbidden. Any
attempt to gain unauthorized access to any computer system, resource or
information is expressly forbidden. If you encounter or observe a gap in system
or network security, immediately report the gap to the manager of that system.
4.
Each College's Policy
on Harassment applies as equally to electronic displays and communications as
to the more traditional (e.g., oral and written) means of display and
communication.
5.
Messages, sentiments,
and declarations sent as electronic mail or postings must meet the same
standards for distribution or display as physical (paper) documents would on
college property.
6.
Unsolicited mailings
and unauthorized mass mailings from campus networks or computing resources
(i.e., “spam”) are prohibited. Each campus may have specific policies regarding
the use of existing group mailing lists (e.g., all-students or all-faculty).
Contact your campus IT organization for details regarding these policies.
7.
Spoofing, or attempts
to spoof or falsify e-mail, network or other information used to identify the
source, destination or other information about a communication, data or
information is prohibited.
8.
You must not degrade
computing or network performance in any way that could prevent others from
meeting their educational or College business goals. You must not prevent others from using shared
resources by running unattended processes, by playing games or by “locking”
systems without permission from the appropriate system manager.
9.
You must conform to
laws and Colleges policies regarding protection of intellectual property,
including laws and policies regarding copyright, patents, and trademarks. When the content and distribution of an
electronic communication would exceed fair use as defined by the federal
Copyright Act of 1976, users of campus computing or networking resources shall
secure appropriate permission to distribute protected material in any form,
including text, photographic images, audio, video, graphic illustrations, and
computer software.
10. You must not use campus computing or networking resources
or personal computing resources accessed through campus network facilities to
collect, store or distribute information or materials, or to participate in
activities that are in violation of federal, state or local laws.
11. You must not use campus computing or networking resources
or personal computing resources accessed through campus network facilities to
collect, store or distribute information or materials in violation of other
Colleges policies or guidelines. These
include, but are not limited to, policies and guidelines regarding intellectual
property and sexual or other forms of harassment.
12. You must not create or willfully disseminate computer
viruses, worms, or other software intended to degrade system or network
security. You must take reasonable steps
to prevent your system from being used as a vehicle for such actions. This includes installing system and software
patches as well as anti-virus signatures files.
13. Use of CNF resources for advertising, selling, and
soliciting for commercial purposes or for personal gain is prohibited without
the prior written consent of the Colleges. Faculty, students or staff who have questions about the
legitimacy of a particular use should discuss it with the appropriate members
of the IT staff on their home campus.
14. The disclosure of individually
identifiable non-directory information to non-university personnel is protected
by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). The
disclosure of financial or personnel records that are owned by the Colleges
without permission or to unauthorized persons is not permitted and may be
prosecuted under California Penal Code 502.
15. Willful or unauthorized misuse or
disclosure of information owned by the Colleges will also constitute just cause
for disciplinary action, including dismissal from school and/or termination of
employment regardless of whether criminal or civil penalties are imposed. It is also expected that any user will report
suspected abuses of CNF resources.
Failure to do so may subject the individual to loss of CNF access and/or
the disciplinary action referred to above.
The respective Information
Technology organization of one of the Claremont Colleges may immediately
suspend service to an individual or computer found to be significantly
degrading the usability of the network or other computer systems. Inappropriate use will be referred to the
appropriate College authority to take action, which may result in dismissal
from school and/or termination of employment.
Note: The provisions of this Policy apply to the
institutions comprising The Claremont Colleges, including the Claremont
University Consortium.