Concordia College

Computing policies at Concordia

Concordia College Policy on Access to Computers and Computer Software

The use of the Concordia College academic computing facilities is available at no direct charge to all faculty, registered students, and staff in support of the regular curricular function of the College. Users are expected to use this privilege in a manner consistent with the College policy on Academic Integrity. Specific guidelines include, but are not limited to:

• Assigned class work has priority over personal use of the facilities. Users doing recreational computing must relinquish their station if requested to do so by the lab consultants or Residential Life staff.
• Accounts must be used ONLY by the assigned user. Computer accounts should be kept secure by changing passwords frequently. Users are responsible for material originating from their account.
• Users must abstain from actions which waste computer resources, alter the configurations of college equipment, destroy the integrity of computer-based information, or compromise the privacy of users. Specifically prohibited are obscene or threatening material. Specific guidelines for personal Web pages are covered by the College Web Policy document.
• Manuals, disks, and supplies must not be removed from the labs.
• College-owned computing facilities may not be used for profit-making purposes.
• The use of the computer equipment, network account, or software of another member of the community without express permission is trespassing and an invasion of privacy. Other violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, forging or sending anonymous mail, and software copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community.

In order to maintain system security or to investigate a reasonable suspicion of policy violations, Computer Services reserves the right to review network account activity, or information sent or stored on computer equipment used on campus. Computer Services does not routinely engage in monitoring electronic information. However, users should not presume the privacy of electronic communications

Failure to conform to the above standards will be considered a violation of the Concordia Academic Integrity Code and/or Social Policy Code, and can lead to temporary or permanent suspension of computing privileges, and College disciplinary action.

Ethical Use of Computers at Concordia College

Concordia College provides computer services for educational, research, and administrative purposes. Because computer resources are finite, access to the public labs and to the Internet is not a right, but a privilege, and that privilege is conditional on your abiding by the following guidelines.

Student, faculty, and staff use of computers is governed by the Academic Responsibility Code as reported in the Directory and Faculty Handbook. Further, Academic Integrity at Concordia College: A Handbook for Faculty, Students, and Staff of the College (1995) stresses the need for all members of the college community to be people of integrity. The ethical use of computer resources at Concordia College nurtures integrity by stressing respect for yourself, others, academic integrity, and computer resources.

Respect Yourself

• Protect your password, and change it often. Avoid obvious passwords, and do not write your password down. Use the password change web page regularly to change your password.
• Never allow another person to use your account. Any member of the Concordia community can have an individual account free of charge. Remember, you are responsible for all activity on your account.
• Always log off your account when you are done.
• Do not access material that is obscene or pornographic or promotes illegal behavior

Respect Others

• Never use the computers to send threatening, obscene, unwanted, or harassing material
• Never access anyone's account but your own or interfere with someone else's files
• Do not impede others's access to public computers by recreational computing (e.g., wantonly engaging the talk feature, playing games, or sending social email) while others are waiting.
• Never write or knowingly execute a program designed to alter or destroy other users's files (i.e., a virus program)
• Respect the Lab Consultants and follow their instructions, especially if you are asked to let another user have your station when you're using it for recreational purposes

Respect Academic Integrity

• Credit all material (e.g., text, images, codes, etc.) taken from the Internet or a cd-rom and used for academic purposes (e.g., reports, essays, presentations, etc.). Failure to do so is plagiarism.
• Never download or distribute a copyrighted program unless your licensing agreement specifically allows it
• Concordia's World Wide Web site is an official publication of the college. All materials posted to it must adhere to the Office of Communication's WWW guidelines.
• You have a responsibility to report and/or stop violations of the computer ethics code

Respect Computer Resources

• Do not use computer resources for commercial gain or frivolity
• Do not squander computer supplies, physically abuse computer equipment, or alter the configuration of college computers
• Do not use excessive disk space on cobber, gloria, or any of the public-computer hard drives
• Do not waste processor time by excessive use of the talk feature or playing games
• Minimize modem use

Concordia College Computer Code Violation And Enforcement Policy

This policy describes the guidelines for handling violations of the Concordia College Policy on Access to Computers and Computer Software. It applies to all Concordia students, faculty, and staff. Complaints are investigated by the Academic Computing Coordinator. All warnings and correspondence are copied to the Director of Security and the Network Systems Manager. Violations are grouped into the following three categories:

Level 1 Violation: Users receive an e-mail warning and explanation of the violation, and a request that the activity not be repeated.

Common violations at this level include Policy violations such as sharing access to an account, complaints from other users of unsolicited mail or offensive material, and wasting of lab supplies.

Level 2 Violation: Users meet personally with Academic Computing Coordinator to discuss the violation, and receive a one to two week account suspension.

Violations at this level include a repeated Level 1 incident, or actions severe enough to disrupt network services.

Level 3 Violation: The user meets with Academic Computing, Student Affairs, and/or Campus Security. These are serious violations and the user may be charged with and Academic Integrity or Social Policy Code violation, and may have computer privileges indefinitely suspended.

Violations at this level include repeated violations at other levels, serious threats or harassment, and intentional interruption of network services or security.

Exception: Web policy violations result in immediate suspension of web publishing privileges and Level 3 enforcement because the Web is considered an official College publication and a public document.

Complaint Procedure: Complaints may be communicated in person, in writing, or by e-mail to the Academic Computing Coordinator, Student Affairs Office, or Campus Security Office. Users are also encouraged to communicate any concerns about proper use of the computing facilities to the e-mail address stop-it@cord.edu.

Users who feel they have been wrongly accused of computer policy violations may bring a complaint to the appropriate judicial board.