Acceptable Usage Policy for Computing and Network Resources

General

1. Catawba College, within the scope of its operations, provides computer resources to authorized users only.
2. Any person using Catawba College computing or network resources must abide by this Acceptable Usage Policy.

Authorized Users

1. Faculty, staff, trustees, and enrolled students may be authorized to utilize College computer resources. Under special circumstances, members of the general public may be so authorized with the prior consent of the Chief Information Officer.
2. Each authorized user of the system will be provided a distinct username and password. The default password assigned at account creation must be changed within 30 days.
3. Users are required to change their system password every 120 days.
4. Users are expected to memorize their passwords (highly recommended) or to store written password clues in a highly secure location. Users are expected to change their password immediately if they have any reason to suspect that the integrity of their password has been compromised.
5. If you are unable to reset your password online, you may be required to come by the Information Technology department during business hours and present a picture id to have it reset.
6. Users may not attempt to gain access to another user's account or files, and may not erase or modify any application, configuration, or data file not specifically belonging to the user.
7. If your username does not access any system resource in 60 days (network, e-mail, Blackboard, CatLink), you will be emailed a warning. If another 60 days go by with no system access, your username will be flagged as inactive and will not work until you contact us. If another 60 days go by and you have not contacted us to reactivate your account, your username will be deleted.
8. Computer accounts and their associated information are deleted 45 days after students withdraw or graduate. For employees, accounts are deleted on the effective date of the resignation or termination unless alternate arrangements are made with the Information Technology department. Employee email, H: drive, and C: drive information are archived and made available to the employee's immediate supervisor.
9. The username assignment algorithm used to create new system accounts is based on the user's legal name at the time of account creation. After initial creation, usernames will not be changed to match legal name changes, because of the time consuming and error prone nature of moving files, e-mail, and permissions from one username to another. Upon request, we will set up an e-mail alias that is based on the new legal name. The new legal name associated with the existing username will appear in system address books and directories.

Copyrighted Digital Content

1. Each user acknowledges that the College licenses the use of proprietary software from a variety of companies. Unless specifically authorized by the owner of the software through the licensing agreement, software and/or documentation relating to the use of the software, may not be duplicated.
2. No software may be loaded onto any Catawba College computer without clear licensing authorization. In the event an employee purchases proprietary software for employee's office/classroom, a copy of the license agreement or other written documentation must be forwarded to the Information Technology department prior to the installation of the software on the computer system. Information Technology will transmit a confirming statement acknowledging receipt of the license to the initiating department or employee. At that time, Information Technology will load the software onto the College system or grant permission to do so. Information Technology will maintain the license as a part of its master license library. The software becomes the property of Catawba College.
3. Each authorized user agrees that he or she is transferring all licensing rights associated with any personal software loaded onto a Catawba College system to Catawba College. The user is agreeing that any duplicate installation of the software onto another system may be a violation of the licensing agreement and that the employee will be liable for any costs associated with the unauthorized installation.
4. No copyrighted content (music files, movies, etc.) should be illegally downloaded or shared using the Catawba College computer network.

Electronic Mail

1. Using electronic mail to send fraudulent, harassing, obscene, indecent, profane, intimidating, or unlawful messages is prohibited.
2. Transmitting chain letters or commercial solicitations via email is prohibited.
3. An approved list of campus community members has access to send email to large internal distribution lists, such as allcatawba. Email transmissions to these large distribution lists are reserved for communications related to official College business and campus-wide official College events. Email about charitable, social, or political causes or events can also be sent directly to these lists provided the cause or event is sponsored by a group or department officially associated with Catawba College. Anyone emailing the large internal distribution lists inappropriately is subject to having their access to these distribution lists revoked.
4. Catawba's email system should not be used to send email to large groups of people (100 or more) outside of the Catawba College community. Such activity may be in violation of anti-spam laws and may result in the @catawba.edu domain being blacklisted as a spam site by external email systems. Admissions and the Development office have systems in place to send email to large numbers of prospective students and alumni and friends of the College without violating anti-spam laws. All bulk email communications should be coordinated through one of these offices.
5. Because of the volume of email that may result, users should use good judgment when joining email lists, and remember to remove themselves from email lists that they are no longer actively monitoring.
6. Because mailboxes have limited storage capacity, and because exceeding that capacity causes subsequent incoming email to be lost, users agree to read and delete their mail on a regular and timely basis.  The system will automatically delete any unread mail sitting in the Inbox folder for 90 days or more. Items in the Deleted Items folder are automatically purged after 30 days.
7. If email directed to your catawba.edu email address is being permanently forwarded to another email address, the forwarded email must be deleted from the Catawba email server and will not be accessible from the Catawba email account.

Internet/Network Use

1. College technology resources are reserved first and foremost for teaching and learning and other official College business. Personal use of these resources is allowed to resident students and employees to the extent that such use does not interfere with the primary mission of the College. These resources may not be used in support of any outside business venture, profit or non-profit.
2. The receipt or transmission of materials on the Internet in violation of any U.S. law, law of the state of North Carolina, or policy of Catawba College is strictly prohibited.
3. Internet resources may not be used to transmit or to receive any materials that may be judged objectionable based upon generally applied standards set by the College.  Specifically prohibited is the receipt or transmission of materials whose subject matter is excessively violent, contains explicit sexual content and/or obscene language.
4. College resources may not be used to attempt to gain access to any computer system, on or off-campus, to which the user does not have proper authorization.
5. The use of port scanners and other computer hacking tools is specifically prohibited.
6. Wireless access points and/or devices that enable your computer to function as a wireless access point may not be connected to the Catawba network by anyone outside of Information Technology.
7. Information Technology reserves the right to block access to internet sites and/or software applications that are classified as significant information security threats by the SANS institute.
8. For security reasons, employees must use Catawba's Barricuda Instant Messaging (IM) software, which is capable of communicating with all major IM software, such as AIM. No IM software other than Barricuda IM is allowed on the employee segment of the network. 
9. For security reasons, employees and resident students are required to use the secure wireless network (CatUSkyNet2). The guest wireless network (CatUSkyNet-Portal) should only be utilized by very occasional users of campus wireless. 

Laboratory Regulations and Care of Facilities

1. Smoking or bringing food or drinks into the computing laboratories is prohibited unless otherwise noted.
2. Loading programs on the local hard drive of any College computer is prohibited without prior authorization from Information Technology.
3. Users may not move or in any way tamper with computer laboratory equipment without prior authorization from Information Technology.
4. Users agree to help maintain a reasonable state of cleanliness and order in all Catawba College computing facilities.
5. Course homework and other academic work has priority over other computer uses such as game-playing, chat rooms, and non-course-related emailing or web browsing.  Users agree to relinquish lab stations, when needed, to those pursuing higher priority activities.
6. Loud music, loud games, talking, or any other activities that disturb other users are prohibited.
7. Users agree to comply with all reasonable requests from College personnel, including requests to relinquish equipment for a higher priority activity, to cease disruptive activity, or to leave the computing laboratory.
8. Users agree to report any equipment problems by submitting a request via CatLink – Technology tab – CS Quick Links channel -  “Contact the IT Help Desk”, or by calling the help desk at 704-637-4666.

Monitoring

1. Each individual user must recognize and acknowledge that the Information Technology Department may observe, log, monitor and track all use of computer resources in order to assure that the computer resources are only being used by authorized users for authorized purposes.
2. The College reserves the right to determine, through monitoring, whether any user is utilizing the system for a possible improper activity.  In the event that a possible improper activity is discovered, Information Technology personnel may provide evidence obtained by monitoring to the College and/or law enforcement personnel.  If the activity disclosed is criminal, the College may request that prosecution be undertaken by the appropriate authorities.  In any event, the individual's right to utilize the system may be suspended until a determination has been made as to whether or not the use was improper.  If improper use occurred, the individual may be notified that his/her right to access has been terminated.
3. Monitoring may further be utilized to assure that users are not sharing system logins. Every user assumes full responsibility for use of his/her system login, whether authorized or not, and recognizes that his/her system access may be suspended or terminated for improper use, regardless of who actually perpetrated the improper use.
4. Each authorized user acknowledges that his/her authority to utilize computer resources is limited.  If, during the monitoring process, it is determined that an individual may have exceeded his/her authority, the individual will be subject to further monitoring and recording, and Information Technology personnel will have the right to terminate the use of the computer system by that individual.
5. Information Technology may gain access to user accounts, home directories, and email directories if needed to correct account problems or potential problems such as quota violations or virus-infected files.  Information Technology may check any component of the College computing system at any time for virus-infected files or illegally installed software.

Printing

1. Students are allotted 450 pages per semester. Additional pages can be purchased online via CatLink – My Account tab - Quotas channel for .10 per page.
2. It is recommended that products approved by the manufacturer or Information Technology be used when changing toner cartridges or inkjet cartridges in printing devices.  Low-cost products sometimes equal low-quality products that can cause damage that will not be covered by printer warranty or maintenance contracts.
3. It is recommended that approved brand-name labels be used.
4. It is recommended that 20lb bond paper be used for laser printing. Paper with high rag content can cause damage that will not be covered by printer warranty or maintenance contracts.

Virus Protection

1. Users agree to virus-scan any media used on any College computer before it is accessed for any other purpose.  Users also agree to virus-scan any files downloaded from the Internet.
2. Any computer attached to the Catawba College computer network must have a current version of virus-protection software installed and be current with Microsoft Critical Security patches.

Violation of the Agreement

1. Members of faculty, staff or enrolled students who violate this policy may be subject to having privileges suspended or terminated.  The Chief Information Officer may also refer the faculty member, staff member, or student whose conduct violates this policy to another appropriate individual or college body for discipline in accordance with the Faculty, Staff, or Student Handbook.
2. In the event that this procedure is violated by a member of the general public, the Chief Information Officer may suspend or terminate computing privileges.  Additionally, if the action of the individual violating the policy places the College at risk of financial liability, the member of the general public may be subject to a civil action to recover those financial losses.
   

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Revised on April 27, 2011