Computer Network Use Policy

Introduction: Gettysburg College provides a campus computer network, including access to the Internet, for students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, parents, and friends of Gettysburg College in order to further the educational purposes of the College. Use of the Gettysburg College network is governed by this Network Use Policy and is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws as well as the rules and regulations of the College.

College Authority: By using the Gettysburg College network, users are granting permission for authorized network administrators to monitor and/or intercept electronic communications. Access that is necessary to render services or to protect the property of the provider of the service is allowed under the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). Further, electronic mail (email) is neither secure nor protected by the laws that apply to the United States Postal Service. Email sent from a machine on the Gettysburg College network is considered College business and is not private property.

Privileges of Network users

Privacy: The College respects the fundamental privacy of electronic communication on the campus network. The College does, however, reserve the right to gain access to otherwise private network correspondence or files maintained on the campus network. Such access would occur in certain specific circumstances in which a possible violation of the Network Use Policy must be investigated in order to protect the integrity and effective functioning of the campus network. System administrators may also require access to otherwise private files maintained on the campus network as part of regular system maintenance. An attempt will be made to notify the user of this access in advance whenever possible and appropriate. Such access is governed by applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Access: The primary purpose of the College's network is to support academic endeavors. This priority is followed by the College's business requirements. Beyond these primary functions, all users of the Gettysburg College network will generally be granted equitable access to as many network services as technology and network capacities allow.

Intellectual Freedom: Gettysburg College encourages a free and open forum for personal expression. This includes viewpoints that are unorthodox or unpopular. Except for official statements from appropriate College officers, Gettysburg College does not officially endorse any opinions stated on the network.

Protection from Harassment and Discrimination: All members of the College community are encouraged to communicate differing perspectives. Community members are also, however, entitled to work and live in an environment free of harassment and/or discrimination. Therefore any network activity that violates the College's equity policy is prohibited. Defamatory remarks and obscenity are also prohibited. The use of overt profanity is strongly discouraged.

Responsibilities of Network USERs

Account Responsibility: Access to the network is through individual accounts with password protection. All willful violations of this policy that can be traced to an individual account name will be treated as the sole responsibility of the owner of that account.

Network Degradation: The running of programs, services, systems, processes or servers by a single user, or group of users, that may substantially degrade network performance or accessibility will not be allowed. Electronic chain letters, mail bombs, and excessive recreational use of the network are prohibited.

Copyrights: Network community members must respect all copyrights and always provide proper attributions of authorship. Commercial software licensed to Gettysburg College may be installed only on machines expressly covered by the licenses. Upon request from a network administrator, individuals who have software licensed to them and installed on a Gettysburg College computer shall produce original disks and/or documentation to verify compliance.

Printing: Network users are expected to use network printing in a responsible manner by printing only those materials essential to educational, academic, or College needs and by printing selected text rather than full text when possible.

Business Transactions/Personal Use: The conduct of occasional private business or financial transactions when such uses are clearly incidental or sporadic is permitted.

Remote Server Services: Approval from the Vice Provost for Information Technology and the Dean of the College is required before any member of the Gettysburg College user community may install or use any remote access software or any server software on any computer connected to the Gettysburg College computer network.

Equipment and Configuration Control: Without specific authorization, users of Gettysburg College computing or network facilities must not cause, permit, or attempt any destruction or modification of data or computing or communications equipment nor remove or aid in the removal of any Gettysburg College-owned or administered equipment, data, or documents from a Gettysburg College facility. Without specific written authorization from Information Technology, users must not physically or electrically attach any foreign device, such as an external disk drive, printer, video system, or backup device, to Gettysburg College computer or network equipment.

Authorized College staff may make appropriate changes to any computer
connected to the Gettysburg College network consistent with the Network Use Policy, or when necessary for maintenance or repair.

Prohibited Activities

Spreading Computer Viruses and Worms: Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt the system performance of the Gettysburg College network or any other computer system or network on the Internet by spreading computer viruses, worms, or similar programs is considered criminal activity under state and federal law. As a precondition for network attachment and use, all personal computers must have up-to-date virus protection software installed and operating.

Impersonation: Impersonation, anonymity, pseudonyms, spoofing, and other methods of hiding, intended to cloak the true identity of a user in order to mislead or avoid
detection, is prohibited.

Business Transactions: The use of the College network and/or personal web pages to offer goods or services of a business or commercial nature is not permitted except those consistent with the College's educational or business mission.

Illegal Activities: Use of the College network for any activity contrary to local, state, or federal laws is prohibited. Illegal activities include, but are not limited to, tampering with computer hardware or software, unauthorized entry into computer systems or computer data, willful vandalism or destruction of computer data or files, or any attempt to defeat the Gettysburg College computer or network security systems.

Violations and Sanctions

Reporting Violations: Users should report any knowledge or evidence of violations of the Network Use Policy to the Vice Provost for Information Technology or the Dean of the College. Incidents of harassment and/or discrimination should also be reported to Human Resources or to one of the identified equity liaisons.

Process: Reported violations will be investigated. If the investigation yields substantial evidence of a violation of the Network Use Policy, the case will be heard through the normal College processes for reviewing a violation of policy.

Penalties: Users who violate this policy will be subject to sanctions and/or network use limitations as determined by the Provost, Director of Human Resources, or other appropriate College officials. Information Technology has the authority to temporarily revoke network access or take other appropriate action in order to maintain network security or health until the Dean of the College (or other designee) reviews an alleged infraction of the Network Use Policy.