Responsible Use Policy

General Principles
Alvernia College makes available computing and network resources, which may be used by college students, faculty, and staff. These are intended to be used for educational purposes and to carry out the legitimate business of the college. Appropriate use of the resources includes instruction, independent research and study, and the official work of the campus organizations and agencies of the college. Commercial and partisan political use of the college's computing resources are strictly prohibited.

The massive, easily accessible presence of other types of information, coupled with the impact on the college network, requires that we define our expectations for conduct while using college computer facilities. Consistent with the college's mission statement, which states, "The goal is to prepare learners for personal achievement, for social responsibility, for moral integrity, and for spiritual fullness," the user should think about the ethics and responsibility associated with the intellectual growth that the Internet provides.

Guidelines
The college manages access to its limited computing resources by requiring that users identify their accounts with a unique personal user name and password. Each user is responsible for all activities on his or her user ID. Misrepresentation and intrusion are serious abuses of the rights of others. We expect that the user will neither attempt to use the network account of another person nor provide access to his or her account to others.

Users are responsible for making use of software and electronic materials in accordance with copyright and licensing restrictions and applicable college policies. We expect that the user will:

Pornography, hatred and racism demean the human spirit. We expect that the user will not use the college's electronic resources for, among other things, lewd or indecent behavior, threat of physical harm, sexual or other harassment, or stalking. We also expect the user not to access pornographic, racist, or inflammatory materials for any purpose except honest academic research.

Pictures, sound files, and graphic files tax the capability of the network due to their size. We expect that the user will:

E-mail is to be treated with the same respect as regular mail. We expect the user will use e-mail in a responsible manner:

Activities related to the college's mission take precedence over computing pursuits of a more personal or recreational nature. We expect the user to respond to the needs of others at times of heavy computer use by working in a way that minimizes PC time. If work priorities are assigned, time limits are imposed, or the user who is "surfing" is asked to yield the station to someone doing work directly related to a course or other legitimate college purpose, we expect the user to cooperate.

Enforcement
Access to the computing resources of Alvernia College is granted subject to college policies, and local, state, and federal laws. Employees should have no expectation of privacy or ownership with regard to computer and network use.

The College does not regularly monitor user files, messages or data on its computing systems. However, certain system administrators and other individuals may have access to the full content of user accounts. They may access account contents if a perceived threat to system security or a violation of College policy or local, state, or federal law is discovered or reasonably suspected.

Policy violations that constitute a breach of the student conduct code or the faculty or employee handbooks will be referred to the appropriate authorities. In addition, violations of the law will also be referred to the civil authorities. College Information Technology staff may take immediate action to abate ongoing interference with network and system operations, or to ensure system integrity.