SCCCD Computer and Network Use Policy

1. INTRODUCTION

State Center Community College District (SCCCD) owns and operates a variety of informationsystems for use by its students and employees.SCCCD encourages the use of these systems for education, academic development, public service, other educational related purposes,andadministrative and business communications and transactions. All users are required to abide by the rules of this Policy and use the systems in an ethical and lawful manner.

2. POLICY REQUISITE

All users of SCCCD information systems must read, understand, and comply with the terms outlined in this Policy, as well as any additional guidelines established by the administrator of the system. BY USING ANY OF THESE SYSTEMS, USERS AGREE THAT THEY WILL COMPLY WITH THESE POLICIES. These policieswill apply to anyone who uses any computer system, network system, internet or intranet website, teleconferencing, or other data processing equipment owned or leased by SCCCD as well as remote systems when used to access SCCCD systems. Users understand and agree that SCCCD’s role in managing these systems is only as an information carrier, and that they will never consider transmission through these systems as an endorsement of contents of such transmission by SCCCD.

3. RIGHTS

These informationsystems, facilities, and accounts are owned and operated by SCCCD.Access to SCCCD technology resources is a revocable privilege, which requires users act responsibly and in a manner consistent with the provisions of this Policy. Users do not own accounts on SCCCD technology resources, but are granted the privilege of using such accounts. SCCCD owns the accounts and grants individuals the privilege of using it. SCCCD reserves all rights, including termination of service without notice, to the computing resources thatit owns and operates. These procedures shall not be construed as a waiver of any rights of SCCCD, nor shall they conflict with applicable law.

4. AUTHORIZED USE

Access and privileges on SCCCD informationsystems are assigned and managed by the administrator of the specific system. Eligible individuals may become authorized users of the system and be granted appropriate access and privileges by following the approval steps prescribed for that system.

An authorized SCCCD agent must approve all access to SCCCD information resources, including issuing of passwords. Users may not, under any circumstances, transfer or confer these privileges to other individuals. Others shall not use any account assigned to an individual without written permission from the appropriate system's administrator. The authorized user is responsible for the proper use of the system, including any password protection.

SCCCD provides access to the internet as a service of convenience to the public at designated terminals. Not all sources on the internet provide accurate, complete, or current information. Users may encounter material that could be considered inappropriate. All electronic traffic originating from any of the SCCCD public terminals shall be in accordance with SCCCD Computer and Network Use Policy. Failure to abide by these standards may result in the loss of computer privileges. SCCCD expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility arising from access to or use of information obtained through its electronic information systems or any consequences thereof. Conducting business or personal transactions such as credit card purchases, stock trades, bank transactions, etc., or accessing systems where such personal or business data are stored is not recommended.

All internet resources accessible through SCCCD information systems are provided equally to all users. There is no age limit for use of any material. Minors attending SCCCD campuses have access to the same resources as adults. There are internet sites that may contain information not suitable for children.

5. USER RESPONSIBILITIES

Electronic communications (such as e-mail and voice mail) are for District-related activities. While at times conducting personal business from SCCCD facilities may be unavoidable, such uses shall be kept to a minimum. Further, users are responsible for maintaining the following:

  • An environment in which access to all of SCCCD computing resources is equitably shared between users.
  • An environment conducive to learning. Many of the SCCCD computing systems provide access to outside networks, both public and private, which furnish electronic mail, information services, bulletin boards, conferences, etc. Users are advised they may encounter material that may be considered offensive or objectionable in nature or content. Users are further advised that SCCCD does not assume responsibility for the contents of any of these outside networks.
  • The user agrees to comply with the acceptable use guidelines for whichever outside networks or services they may access through SCCCD systems. The user agrees to follow proper etiquette on outside networks. Documents regarding etiquette are available through specific individual networks. The user agrees that, in the unlikely event that someone does transmit, or cause to be transmitted, a message that is inconsistent with an environment conducive to learning or with a misleading origin, the person who performed the transmission will be solely accountable for the message, not SCCCD, which is acting solely as the information carrier.
  • The user agrees not to store personal items on SCCCD’s network.
  • Any user who finds a possible security lapse on any District system is obligated to report it to the system administrator. Before gaining access to the internet from SCCCD facilities, users will have to agree to SCCCD computer and network use policies as stated herein.

Within the guidelines stated above, confidentiality among students, faculty, and staff will be strictly maintained.

6. PERMISSIBLE USES

Activities deemed to be appropriate uses of SCCCD technology resources include the following:

  • Educational Use (students)
  • Carrying out SCCCD course assignments and activities requiring access to and use of campus technology resources, including:
  • Authorized access to and use of computer programs licensed by SCCCD available on stand-alone and networked stations.
  • Authorized access to lab and campus networks to perform and complete required course work for SCCCD courses in which the user is currently enrolled.
  • User access to authorized SCCCD student email accounts.
  • Independent study and research.
  • Agreement by user to follow acceptable use policies established by individual computing labs and network systems and to obey directives issued by authorized SCCCD personnel supervising such labs and systems.
  • Instructional Use (faculty)
  • Use in classroom instruction.
  • Development of instructional materials.
  • Research connected to academic and instructional concerns and interests.
  • Communication with colleagues, students, and professional organizations and institutions.

  • Administrative Use (District employees)
  • District administrative and business communications and transactions.
  • Communication with colleagues, students, and professional organizations and institutions.
  • Research tied to District concerns and interests.

7. PROHIBITED USES

Use of any and all of SCCCD information systems for any of the following purposes is strictly prohibited. Liability for violations of prohibited uses shall remain solely and exclusively with the user. By using SCCCD information systems, the user further agrees to indemnify SCCCD for any liability incurred by SCCCD for misuse by the user.Specific examples of inappropriate use of technology resources include, but are not limited to:

Copyright Infringement

Software protected by copyright may not be copied except as expressly permitted by the owner of the copyright or otherwise permitted by copyright law. Protected software may not be copied into, from, or by any District facility or system, except pursuant to a valid license or as otherwise permitted by copyright law. In addition to software, all other copyrighted information (text, images, icons, programs, etc.) retrieved from computer or network resources must be used in conformance with applicable copyright and other law. Copied material must be properly attributed. Plagiarism of computer information is prohibited in the same way that plagiarism of any other protected work is prohibited.

Defamation – Libel/Slander – Fraud – Bullying - Harassment

While the District recognizes and respects users' rights to freedom of speech, such rights are not absolute. Speech which is fraudulent, libelous, obscene, harassing, or threatening is not permitted under state or federal law. Creation or transmission of any false statement which tends to cause injury to one's reputation is strictly prohibited. Any user creating or transmitting defamatory statements shall have sole liability for any damages resulting from such defamatory statement. The user agrees never to attempt to transmit, or cause to be transmitted, any message in which the origination is deliberately misleading (except for those outside services that may conceal identities as part of the service).Users shall not use District technology resources in any unlawful manner including, but not limited to, attempting to defraud another, threatening physical harm to another, procuring or distributing obscene material in any form, or unlawfully harassing another.

Obscene Material

Creating, transmitting, uploading, or downloading obscene materials is a strictly prohibited use of SCCCD information systems unless the materials are parts of approved courses of SCCCD curriculum. "Obscene material" means material(words, images, or sounds) taken as a whole, which areasonable person, applying contemporary community standards, when considering the contents as a whole, would conclude that they appeal to prurient sexual/physical interests or violently subordinating behavior rather than an intellectual or communicative purpose, and materials that, taken as a whole regarding their content and their particular usage or application, lack any redeeming literary, scientific,political, artistic , educational, or social value.Any user violating this provision may be subject to applicable criminal and civil penalties. Civil liability shall be solely and exclusively with the user.

Commercial Use

Electronic communication facilities may not be used to transmit commercial or personal advertisements, solicitations or promotions. District information resources should not be used for commercial purposes. Users also are reminded that the “.edu” domain on the internet has rules restricting or prohibiting commercial use and users may not conduct inappropriate activities within those domains.

Downloading Programs

Downloading of executable files to SCCCD computer systems is not encouraged and is done solely at the user's risk. SCCCD computer personnel will not support downloaded files and any problems caused by such a download are solely the user's responsibility.

Exploitation of vulnerabilitiesin information security systems or knowledge of a special password shall not be used to damage the computer system, obtain extra resources, mask one’s identity for unlawful or malicious purposes, take resources from another user, gain access to systems, or use systems for which proper authorization has not been given.

Violations of some of the above policies may constitute criminal offenses.The user agrees never to use the system to perform an illegal or malicious act as set forth in this section. Any attempt to increase the level of access to which the user is authorized, or any attempt to deprive other authorized users of resources or access to any SCCCD information system shall be regarded as malicious, and may be treated as an illegal act.

Violations of these policies will be considered violations of District policies dealing with misuse or abuse of District property, and may result in disciplinary action. In such event, the full range of disciplinary sanctions is detailed below.

8. INAPPROPRIATE USE OF SCCCD TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES: REPORTING AND CONSEQUENCES

Reporting Violations

Authorized system supervisors may informally resolve unintentional or isolated minor violations of use policiesthrough e-mail or face-to-face discussion and education with the user or users concerned. For more seriousviolations, the following actions will be taken:

Student Violations

Individuals may report a suspected violation of this Policy by a student to the appropriate college department or instructional division office. The department or divisionshall then determine whether a violation of thisPolicy or of Board Policy has occurred. If the department or divisiondetermines that a violationhas occurred, they may take immediate action to suspend or revoke the user'sprivileges. In the event a user's privileges are suspended or revoked, the department or divisionmustprovide the user with written notice of the suspension or revocation, and provide a statementof reasons for the actions taken. Possible sanctions include the deletion of materials foundto be in violation of this Policy or of Board Policy, loss of user privileges, studentexpulsion, and other sanctions available within the judicial processes.

Employee Violations

Individuals may report a suspected violation of this Policy, or of Board Policy by Districtemployees to the accused employee's supervisor who will immediately refer the complaintto District Human Resources for review. District Human Resources shall then determinewhether a violation of this Policy or of Board Policy has occurred. If District HumanResources determines that a violation has occurred, they may contact the system administrator to take immediate action to suspend or revoke the user's privileges. In theevent a user's privileges are suspended or revoked, District Human Resources must providethe user with written notice of the suspension or revocation, and provide a statement ofreasons for the actions taken. District Human Resources may also make a determination ofwhether disciplinary action should be taken pursuant to established District collectivebargaining agreements, Board Policies, Administrative Regulations, and/or other applicablelaws, rules or procedures. District Human Resources’ determination to suspend or revokean employee's user privileges may be appealed using the established grievance proceduresapplicable to the employee. Possible sanctions include deletion of material found to be inviolation of this Policy and loss of technology resource user privileges. Other forms ofemployee discipline may be invoked under existing laws or SCCCD policies and procedures.

Investigating Violations and Consequences

If SCCCD staff or system administrators have information that a violation of this Policy, or of Board Policy, or any other misuse of technology resources has occurred, and if that information points to the activities or the computer files of an individual, they have the obligation to pursue any or all of the following steps to protect the user community:

  • Take action to protect the system(s) and user files from damage. SCCCD reserves the right to immediately suspend a user's privilege ofaccess to SCCCD’s technology resources if it has anyreason to believe that the user has committed a violation of this Policy or of Board Policy.
  • Notify the alleged abuser's supervisor, project director, instructor, academic advisor, oradministrative officer, as appropriate, of the investigation.
  • Refer the matter for processing through the appropriate SCCCD disciplinary process.
  • Suspend or restrict the alleged abuser's technology privileges during the investigation andadministrative processing.
  • Inspect the alleged abuser's files, including portable media storage.

Minor infractions of this Policy or those that appear accidental in nature are typicallyhandled internally in an informal manner by electronic mail or in-person discussions. Infractions that are more serious are handled via the procedures outlined above.

Infractions such as harassment or repeated minor infractions as described in this Policymay result in the temporary or permanent loss of user privileges, notification of a student'sacademic advisor and/or instructional division office, or the appropriate supervisor and District HumanResources in the case of an employee.

More serious infractions, such as unauthorized use, attempts to steal passwords or data,unauthorized use or copying of licensed software, violations of SCCCD’s policies or procedures, or repeated violations of minor infractions may resultin the temporary or permanent loss of technology resource privileges.

Offenses which are in violation of local, state, or federal laws may result in the immediate lossof technology resource privileges, and will be reported to the appropriate law enforcementauthorities.

9. EXPECTATIONS OF PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

SCCCD reserves the right to monitor all use of the District network and computers to assure compliance with these policies. Users should be aware that they have no expectation of privacy in the use of the District network and computer resources. The District will exercise this right only for legitimate District purposes, including but not limited to ensuring compliance with this regulation and the integrity and security of the system.

Possibility of Disclosure - Users must be aware of the possibility of unintended disclosure of communications.

Retrieval - It is possible for information entered on or transmitted via computer and communications systems to be retrieved, even if a user has deleted such information.

Public Records - The California Public Records Act (Government Code section 6250, et seq.) includes computer transmissions in the definition of “public record” and nonexempt communications made on the District network and computer must be disclosed if requested by a member of the public.

Litigation - Computer transmissions and electronically stored information may be discoverable in litigation.

Programs and files are confidential unless they have been made available, with written permission, to other authorized individuals. SCCCD reserves the right to access all information stored in SCCCD computers. File owners will be notified of file access and/or maintenance, in advance, if such notice is practical. When performing maintenance, every effort is made to ensure the privacy of the user's files. However, if Policy violations are discovered, they will be reported immediately to the appropriate system administrator.

10. ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

SCCCD retains the right to revoke, amend, or change the provisions of this Policy. The system administrator mayestablish more detailed guidelines, as needed, for specific information systems and networks. All changes to this regulation are subject to the regular approval process that applies to all administrative regulations. In addition, there will be a notification period before such changes result in disciplinary action.

11. Disclaimer

Use of the District’s information systems resources is entirely at the risk of the user. SCCCD shall not be liable for any damage that may occur to any peripheral equipment or storage media, including loss of data, loss of confidential information, unauthorized access to or alteration of data transmissions, and/or any other direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting from or arising out of use of the District’s information systems or inability to use these services, or any other matter relating to these services.

Approved by TAC on 04/11/2014