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Policies

Review
All sites and the pages therein are subject to review by any individual at any time with comments being sent to the CSU Webmaster.

Compliance
Purpose
The Office of Web Development, with input from the Web Operations Committee, has developed a policy to outline how CSU Page Coordinators will be notified when their Web site does not meet the standards outlined by the Standards and Procedures for CSU Web Site Design. It describes the appeal process.

Notification
When a Web site or page is found to be in non-compliance with the Standards and Procedures for CSU Web Site Design, the Web Site Page Coordinator will receive an e-mail notification from the CSU Webmaster. The notification will:

• Outline where the standard(s) are not being followed
• Suggest ways to correct the problem (if applicable)
• Provide a time frame for complying with the standards.
  o The normal time frame for complying will be 10 working days of notification.

Consequences for not complying with the standards within the time frame.

• First time – Page Coordinator or Page Coordinator’s supervisor will be notified of Web site not conforming to standard.
• Second time – The Web site will be de-activated.
• Third time – a Page Coordinator will lose their CSUWEB privileges.

The Office of Web Development can provide assistance in complying with the standards at any time.

Appeal
Submit all non-compliance appeals in writing to the CSU webmaster. The webmaster will form an ad hoc group of representatives from Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Enrollment Services, Public Relations, and Computer Information and Networking Services (CINS) who will review the appeal. This group will respond within two weeks with a written decision. All appeal decisions are final.

WWW Policy
Columbus State University’s Web site is an interactive communication and publishing medium through which CSU can distribute valuable information about its programs and activities and collect information from various constituents. The Web also serves as a medium for educational activities and instructional services. All its content should be accurate, fair, legal, up-to-date, useful and reflective of the university’s vision, mission and policies.

The following policies have been adopted to facilitate clear, consistent and legal electronic publishing.

Web-Related Committees
A Web Policy Committee, appointed by the president, is responsible for the development and enhancement of policies governing campus use of the Web in support of the university’s mission. Members of this committee include the Public Relations director (chair), the Computer Information and Networking Services (CINS) director and the university webmaster.

A Web Operations Committee, appointed by the president, is responsible for the creation, maintenance and adherence to the procedures detailing how the university’s Web pages should look and function. Members of this committee include, but are not limited to, university webmaster (chair), representatives from Public Relations and Enrollment Marketing, all campus Web Page Coordinators, representatives of each of the vice presidents and a student. Please see the Web Operation Committee Web site at http://webs.colstate.edu for more information.

Web Publishing
Campus departments are responsible for their own Web pages. Each department must designate a Page Coordinator for their Web site before making a request to CINS for activation of the page or linking it to the university’s Web system. CINS provides and supports the Web’s framework, not the content. The coordinator, and ultimately the department chair or director, is responsible for developing and maintaining unit-level pages, checking the factual accuracy of all materials, spell-checking and proofreading content, reviewing links to other pages, and periodically updating materials and links to other pages.

Just as any publication of the university, CSU’s Web pages should be accurate, informative, up-to-date and reflective of the university’s mission. Columbus State University resources may be used only to create and support Web pages related to professional, school- related endeavors, except as permitted by other college policies.

Links to outside Web pages should be limited. Any perception of endorsement of a product, company or other commercial Web site is prohibited. No top level CSU Web page can link directly to any personal pages. With the approval of the unit director, unit pages may link to faculty, staff, and student personal pages, as long as they are listed as such.

The Web and the resources that support it should be used responsibly. Any activity will be ceased if it is determined to be:

• irresponsible and/or in conflict with the university's mission, and/or
• wastes the university's limited resources, and/or
• prevents others from using these resources, and/or
• includes conduct that is reasonably calculated to obstruct or disrupt the use of any system or network by others.

To ensure consistency and clarity, the top levels of the university’s Web pages will have some commonality between pages, as determined by the Web Operations Committee. The committee’s input will also be sought for the CSU home page and top-level pages, which are reviewed and approved by Public Relations. The top-level pages in each area must match the CSU homepage for overall consistency. Lower-level linked pages may be more flexible in design, but must still follow certain conventions. Please see the Web Operations Committee procedures at http://webs.colstate.edu for content guidelines and requirements for all Columbus State University HTML pages.

Governance
All pages must be consistent with University System of Georgia and Columbus State University policies and local, state and federal laws. Pages in violation of any university policy will be disconnected from the university server. Since copyright laws and university publication policies apply to electronic publishing, publishers must have permission to use the information, graphics, music, video or photographs on their pages if the publisher is not the author or creator.

Columbus State University disclaims all responsibility for servers other than Columbus State University Web Servers. Without written permission, non-CSU servers may not use the Columbus State University name, logo, or other symbol identified with the university; purport to speak for the university or any of its units; or imply an association with or sponsorship by the university. All student organization and personal pages must contain the following statement: "The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author and are not necessarily endorsed by Columbus State University."

Although a reasonable and conscientious effort is made to back up critical data on university resources for disaster recovery purposes, each user is ultimately responsible for backing up data stored in personal Web pages. A reasonable and conscientious effort is made to provide a secure environment, but no guarantee of absolute privacy is made. The requirement to use a password should not give the user an expectation of privacy as to any information on a university server. Any data may be subject to examination in the course of routine systems administration, by public records law or through legally required disclosure.

Content Guidelines
The following content guidelines are designed to promote the free-flowing exchange of ideas while maintaining standards consistent with the Internet community and the societies of the world. If you have any questions regarding these guidelines, please contact the CSU Webmaster.

Columbus State University does not discriminate on the basis race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

CSU Personal Homepages cannot be used for the following activities:

1. Displaying material containing nudity or pornographic material of any kind.
2. Providing material that is grossly offensive to the online community, including blatant expressions of bigotry, prejudice, racism, hatred or profanity,
3. Displaying material that exploits children under 18 years of age,
4. Promoting or providing instructional information about illegal activities, promoting physical harm or injury against any group or individual, or promoting any act of cruelty to animals.
   
   This includes, but is not limited to:
   
   • Providing instructions on how to assemble bombs, grenades and other weapons,
   • Disseminating personal information about another individual for malevolent purposes,
   • Creating "Crush" sites,
   • Providing computer software viruses or software designed to create a virus,
   • Providing satellite TV cracks,
   • Providing programs to "nuke" or create a denial of service attack against another individual,
   • Facilitating the delivery of "spam" e-mail,
   • Soliciting passwords from other individuals.
   • Committing acts of copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property infringement. This includes, but is not limited to, the following activities:
     • Providing pirated computer programs or links to such programs,
     • Providing information used to circumvent manufacturer-installed copy-protection devices, including serial or registration numbers for software programs,
     • Providing any type of "cracker" utility,
     • Providing pirated content and media or links to such files.
   • Defaming any person or group.
   • Developing restricted or password-only access pages or hidden pages or images.
   • Developing homepages or session posts that consist of hyperlinks to content not allowed by these guidelines.
   • Using your homepage (or directory) as storage for remote loading.
   • Having multiple accounts or Personal Homepages that are on the same CSU server.
   • Gathering personally identifiable information from individuals for commercial or unlawful purposes.
   • Violating Internet standards for the purpose of promoting your home page.
   • Engaging in commercial activities for personal gain. This includes, but is not limited to:
     • Offering for sale any products or services,
     • Soliciting for advertisers or sponsors,
     • Conducting raffles or contests that require any type of entry fee,
     • Displaying a sponsorship banner of any kind, including those that are generated by banner or link exchange services,
     • Displaying banners for services that provide cash or cash-equivalent prizes to users in exchange for hyperlinks to their Web sites,
     • Promoting, soliciting or participating in multilevel marketing or pyramid schemes.

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