Columbus State University WWW Policy

January 7, 2003

Columbus State University's website is an interactive communication and publishing medium through which CSU can distribute valuable information about its programs and activities, and collect information from various constituencies who are in pursuit of the university's services. The Web also serves as a medium for educational activities and other instructional roles. 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), University Information and Technology Services (UITS) 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 page coordinators, representatives of each of the vice presidents and a student. Please see the Web Operation Committee website at http://webs.columbusstate.edu for more information.

Web Publishing

Campus departments are responsible for their own pages. Each department must designate a page coordinator for their website before making a request to UITS for activation of the page and linking it to the university's Web system. (UITS 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 website 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 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 to each page, as determined by the Web Operations Committee. The committee's input is also 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.columbusstate.edu for content 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 system. Any data may be subject to examination in the course of routine systems administration, by public records law or through legally required disclosure.