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Policy Title: Acceptable Use Guidelines/Unacceptable Use Policy
Effective date:9/1/2003
Pertains to: All students, faculty and staff
Policy Index: www.stthomas.edu/policies

Acceptable Use Guidelines/Unacceptable Use Policy

St. Thomas encourages computer use in accordance with its mission and purpose by providing computing resources to the university community. This Policy describes the University's guidelines and policies governing responsible use of computing resources by students and employees.
 

  1. Acceptable Uses of UST Computing Resources

Computing resources are intended for instruction, study, academic research, and the official work of campus organizations and university offices. In addition, as with any resource on campus, access to academic computing resources is provided, in part, to allow members of the community to learn, explore, and grow.

All users of University computing resources must:

  1.  Comply with all federal, Minnesota and other applicable law, with all applicable University rules and policies, and all applicable contracts and licenses.
  2. Use only those computing resources that they are authorized to use, and use them only in the manner and to the extent authorized.
  3. Respect the privacy of other users and their accounts.
  4. Respect the limited capacity of the University's computer resources, and limit use so as not to consume an unreasonable amount of those resources or to interfere unreasonably with the activity of other users.
  5. Protect one's password and I.D. from unauthorized use.
  6. Access only information that is one's own, that is publicly available, or to which the user has been given authorized access.
  7. You are required to cooperate with system administrators if you are advised of potential security problems associated with your account or system.

     
  8. Unacceptable Uses of UST Computing Resources

Conduct which constitutes unacceptable use under this Policy includes, but is not limited to:

  1. Accessing another person's computer, files or data without permission. This includes data in transit on the network.
  2. Using a system or the network to obtain unauthorized access to or deny services to any offsite system. Such actions may also violate Federal Law.
  3. Circumventing, violating, or subverting system or network security measures, or exploiting flaws in same, or attempting to do so. Examples include creating or running programs that are designed to identify security loopholes, to decrypt intentionally secured data, or to gain unauthorized access to any system. If you find a hole in the security of any St. Thomas system, notify IRT staff immediately at 962-6230.
  4. Engaging in any activity that might be purposefully harmful to systems or to any information stored thereon, such as creating or propagating viruses, disrupting services or damaging files or making unauthorized modifications to University data.
  5. Performing any act, intentionally or otherwise, that will interfere with the normal operation of computers, terminals, peripherals or networks.
  6. Using University systems for personal commercial purposes or partisan political purposes, such as using electronic mail to circulate advertising for products or for political candidates.
  7.  Making or using illegal copies of copyrighted software or data, storing such copies on University systems, or transmitting them over University networks. Unless given explicit permission by the copyright holder, you may not copy software or computer data, including audio or video data, available through the University. You may not place copyrighted material on any computer connected to the UST network for the purpose of making it available for others to copy, unless you own the copyright or can demonstrate a teaching or research fair-use exemption from copyright. Software piracy constitutes theft and will not be tolerated.
  8. Using University software or data, including electronic mail, to harass or intimidate another person.
  9. Saturating network or computer resources to the exclusion of another's use, for example, overloading the network with either legitimate (file backup, archiving, bulletin boards, synchronous chat sessions) or malicious (denial of service attack) activities.
  10.  Sharing your username and password with others. Providing access to UST systems or networks to users who do not have an official affiliation with the University without IRT permission is prohibited. This includes providing user accounts on personal systems (i.e. Unix shell accounts, PC-Anywhere passwords, or any such analog). If permission is granted, the administrator of that system is responsible for all user activities on that system.
  11. Attaching any device other than a personal computer to the campus network without the expressed permission of the information technology staff. This includes (but is not limited to) printers, hubs, switches, routers, and protocol analyzers.
  12. Abuse of E-mail - The following activities specific to e-mail use are prohibited:
  • Forging the identity of a user or machine in an electronic communication.
  •  Failure to comply with a request to stop e-mailing someone or to take them off a distribution list
  • Sending all-campus e-mail messages
  • Creating or forwarding chain letters
  • Initiating or facilitating in any way mass electronic mailing (e.g., "spamming," "flooding" or "bombing")
  1. Applicability of Other University Codes of Conduct
    All University of St. Thomas codes of conduct, including those related to plagiarism and harassment, apply also to technology resources. These policies are based on respect for the work and privacy of other St. Thomas community members.
     
  1. Data Privacy

As a general policy, University employees will not read your e-mail or private files (whether they are stored centrally or locally). However, the University of St. Thomas reserves the right for its staff to log and examine network traffic, and to retrieve and examine files stored on UST systems when necessary, particularly but not exclusively in the following situations:

  • If information is required in a court proceeding. Electronic data, including deleted information that has been restored from back-up tape, has been subpoenaed as evidence during both civil and criminal court cases. If such a situation arises, the university is legally bound to cooperate with law enforcement authorities.
  • If an individual is suspected of an infraction of University policy or of the law (e.g., engaged in unacceptable use of UST computing resources as outlined in this Policy), Information Resources & Technologies (IRT) will act as the investigating office and will involve other offices as needed.
  • If an individual's private files (electronic or e-mail) are wanted as evidence on a non-computer-related disciplinary matter (such as an academic dishonesty case or a sexual harassment investigation), IRT will provide those files on request of the Dean of Students, the Dean of the appropriate college, or the Associate Vice President of Human Resources. Unless the infraction involves potentially criminal behavior, IRT will make an effort to inform the individual that their files are being examined.
     
  1. Enforcement

The University considers violations of acceptable use principles to be serious offenses. The University will take such action as is necessary to copy and examine any files or information resident on University systems allegedly related to unacceptable use, and to protect its network from systems and events that threaten or degrade operations.

In the case of minor infractions, IRT will attempt to contact the offending party via e-mail, telephone or in person to explain the problem and discuss its resolution. Blatant violations or repeated offenses will be referred to the appropriate University entity for discipline.

In the case of major infractions, for example those that impair others' ability to use networking and computing resources, IRT may restrict systems or network access as it deems necessary to mitigate such activities. Only thereafter will IRT make a reasonable effort to contact the involved parties when these incidents occur.

Violations of this policy will result in disciplinary action by the Dean of Students, Associate Vice President of Human Resources, and other appropriate authorities, if necessary. IRT staff may take immediate action as needed to ensure system integrity. This may include, but not be limited to, immediate denial of access to your account, loss of e-mail privileges or removal of your system from the network. In cases involving violations of this Policy or other campus codes, the relevant disciplinary offices will be given all information about an incident that IRT can collect. IRT will advise and testify as requested, and if asked to disable accounts as a result of disciplinary hearings, will do so with all possible speed.

Further Information

If you have any questions about whether an activity is permissible or not, you may call the IRT Tech Desk at (651) 962-6230 or the Dean of Students at (651) 962-6050.STP:97948.1/65510-2003

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