Resources and Primary Uses
- Technology resources provided by Otterbein College
are made available to students, faculty, staff
and approved guests primarily as tools for enhancing
and facilitating teaching, learning, and scholarly
research. These resources include, but are not
limited to, hardware and software either owned
or leased by the College, and consulting time and
expertise of Otterbein College employees. Additionally,
owners of personal equipment that is connected
to the data or telecommunications infrastructure
of the College are also subject to these policies.
- Use of the resources for instructional and administrative
activities directly related to the mission of the
College shall have priority over personal or recreational
use of resources.
- Many of the technology resources of the College
are shared among the entire College community.
Activities involving these resources must be in
accord with the College policies found in faculty
and staff handbooks, the Campus Life Handbook;
all relevant local, state, federal laws and international
agreements; and all contracts and licenses.
Ethical Use
- It is the intent of the College to maintain a
campus environment that facilitates access and
sharing of information without fear that an individual's
work will be violated by misrepresentation, tampering,
destruction and/or theft.
- The privilege of using these resources carries
with it the responsibility for ethical behavior.
Unethical behavior will not be tolerated and includes,
but is not limited to:
- activities that obstruct usage or deny access
to others
- activities that compromise privacy
- activities that could be considered harassment
or libelous
- attempts to gain unauthorized access to
local or remote information resources
- activities that violate copyright laws (this
includes unauthorized copying and distribution
of commercial software, text, graphic images,
audio and video recordings)
- activities that violate College policies
and standards of conduct
- destruction or alteration of data or information
belonging to others
- activities that violate local, state, or
federal laws
- unauthorized use of computer accounts or
impersonating other individuals
- creating, using or distributing programs
intended to damage data files, application
programs, system operations, or network operations
- attempts to capture or crack passwords or
break encryption protocols
- allowing anyone else to use your account(s)
- extensive use of resources for private or
personal use
- use of resources for commercial and/or financial
gain
- violation of licensing agreements for information
resources
- knowing or reckless distribution of unwanted
mail or other messages, specifically "chain
letters" and other schemes that may cause
excessive network traffic or computing load
- unauthorized extension or retransmission
of Otterbein network services
Privacy
The College places a high value on privacy and
recognizes its critical importance in an academic
setting. Nevertheless, computer users should be aware
that their uses of College computing resources are
not completely private. While the College does not
routinely monitor individual usage of its computing
resources, the normal operation and maintenance of
the College’s computing resources require the
backup and caching of data and communications, the
logging of activity, the monitoring of general usage
patterns, and such activities that are necessary
for the rendition of service. Computer users should
be aware that information may appear on system backups,
and even the deletion of messages of files may not
eliminate them from the system. Further, where it
appears that the integrity, security or functionality
of the College’s computer or network resources
are at risk; or to protect the College from liability;
or in instances of abuse of College policies, codes,
or local, state or federal laws, Otterbein College
reserves the right to take whatever actions it considers
necessary (including, but not limited to monitoring
activity and viewing files) to investigate and resolve
the situation. Any such individual monitoring, other
than as required by law or necessary to respond to
perceived emergency situations, must be authorized
in advance by the Director of Information Technology
or the Director’s designees. In such instances,
a written report of the findings will be forwarded
to the appropriate College officials or civil authorities
(see the Violations of Policy section, below). In
order to assure continuity for academic and administrative
departments, similar procedures may be used after
an employee is separated from Otterbein or is no
longer able to perform the required duties.
Violations of Policy
Student violations of this policy, such as computer
time/theft/abuse (as included in the Campus
Life Handbook), will be addressed through
the Student Affairs Office. Employee violations of
this policy are addressed in the Policies and Procedures
Manual for Salaried and Hourly Staff or in the Union
Contract. Violations of this policy by administrative
staff, non-exempt staff and union employees are handled
through the Office of Human Resources. Faculty violations
are handled through the Academic Dean's Office. Violations
of local, state or federal laws will be reported
to the appropriate authorities. The College may temporarily
suspend or block access to an account or remove files,
when reasonably necessary to do so in order to protect
the integrity, security or functionality of College
or other computing resources or to protect the College
from liability. Any such suspension or blocking of
access to an account, other than as required by law
or necessary to respond to perceived emergency situations,
must be authorized in advance by the Director of
Information Technology or the Director’s designees.
Copyright
Otterbein College is committed to complying with
U.S.
copyright law and expects all users of the College’s
technology resources to do the same.
Amendment of Policy
Otterbein College reserves the right to amend this
policy at any time with 90 days notice. |
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Responsible
Use of Information Technology Resources
