Information Technologies Department

Academic Computing | Helpdesk |Information Systems|Media Services| Network Services

"QCCWeb Publishing Policy"

 

I. Introduction

II. General Guidelines

III. Official Publications

IV. Student Organizations, Staff and Faculty Publications

Appendix A: QCC Website Publications

Appendix B: Quinsigamond Community College Position on Censorship and Free Speech Regarding Web Content

Appendix C: Copyright Violations

I.            Introduction

    The Quinsigamond Community College (“QCC”) Web Site is an official resource of the College.  The computing and network resources are provided to students, faculty and staff for educational purposes and to carry out the legitimate business of the College.

     The official QCC Web Site provides both a source of useful information and a platform for delivery of services to students, faculty and staff.  Through related links to other sites, it also serves as a communication tool allowing students, faculty and staff to share ideas and information in a positive, respectful, responsible manner.

     Members of the College community are expected to be familiar with and adhere to these guidelines for the use of networked information technology resources and Internet access established by the College.  While the College does not monitor the use of its technological resources on a routine basis, if it believes, in its sole discretion, that a user’s participation may create liability for the College or violates the College’s Web Site or Acceptable Use of Information Systems Policies, the College reserves the right to remove, restrict or deny access to the College’s technology resources to such user.

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II.            General Guidelines

  1. All publications must be related to the mission of Quinsigamond Community College.

  2. By publishing content on the QCC Web Site, the user agrees to abide by all governing policies and procedures including the QCC Information Systems Acceptable Use Policy.

  3. Use of the QCC Website that violates any local, state, federal or international law is prohibited. This prohibition includes violation of any copyright law or software license.

  4. Use of the QCC Website that in any way harasses or slanders any individual or organization is prohibited.

  5. Commercial use of the Website is prohibited. Use of this web Site for political purposes is also prohibited.

  6. The rights of academic freedom and freedom of expression do apply to the use of the QCC Web Site. However, the responsibilities and limitations associated with those rights are also applicable. In the event of misuse of its technological resources, or use not consistent with QCC’s Acceptable Use Policy, the College reserves the right to take actions that it believes are prudent or necessary, including canceling accounts or denying access to the QCC Web Site. Decisions of this nature will be made by the President or the President’s designee.  (See details appendix B and C.)

  7. Publication on the QCC Website must adhere to the logistical procedures and technical standards established by the department of Information Technologies.

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III.            Official College Publications

  1. Official publications of the College will be maintained by the appropriate academic or administrative department.

  2. Departmental managers are responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of such content.

  3. All departmental publications must include the College's logo to identify the content as official information.

  4. Time-sensitive content regarding campus events and deadlines should be published and removed according to information staleness standards set by the QCC Web Team.

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IV.            Student Organizations, Staff and Faculty Publications

  1. Student Organizations, Faculty, and Staff publications must be related to the professional, educational or academic purposes, which are directly related to the legitimate business of the College.

  2. Any violation of copyright laws or any other law is the sole responsibility of the individual publisher.

  3. Unauthorized publication of software is prohibited.

  4. Disk storage limits for Student Organizations, Faculty, and Staff publications will be set and enforced by the department of Information Technologies.

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Appendix A: QCC Website Publications

      The QCC web site is considered an official publication of the College; as such it is subject to the same restrictions as any other official College publication. These include the right of College officials to eliminate or edit any materials published, or deny the right to publish information on the official College web site. Any information published by an officially recognized QCC office, project, program, or area such as the academic division or equivalent level is considered official QCC information.

    Information published by student organizations, faculty and staff must be related to professional, educational or academic purposes, which are directly related to the legitimate business of the College. QCC makes no warranties of any kind with regard to availability of web site system resources or protection of individual user's data or published content. While the College does not routinely monitor or control student, faculty, and staff publications, all content is subject to audit by the designee of the President.  The views, expressions and information published on the QCC Web Site are solely those of the author(s) thereof.  The contents of the QCC Web Site do not represent the views of, and have not been officially approved by the College.

    Any individual, who uses the QCC technology resources in any manner, directly or via link, agrees to abide by the terms and conditions in the College’s Information Systems Acceptable Use Policy and this Web Site Policy.

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Appendix B: Quinsigamond Community College Position on Censorship and Free Speech Regarding Web Content

    QCC believes freedom of expression is essential to an open, vibrant educational institution.  However, QCC also recognizes its responsibilities to protect individual right to privacy, security and freedom from harassment of any type.  QCC’s Office of the President, or the President’s designee, reserves the right to review, edit, and remove any materials from the QCC Web Site which are determined to violate these rights, or the acceptable use policy of the College.  The Information Systems Acceptable Use Policy contains a more complete definition of computer harassment.

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Appendix C: Copyright Violations

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 requires schools who wish to obtain the liability protection available under the law to adopt and implement a policy that provides for the termination of the computer privileges of users who are infringers with respect to on-line copyright violations.  In accordance with that law, QCC Web Site users who, in their use of the QCC technology resources infringe on the copyrights of others and create legal liability for the university may have their computer privileges terminated.  The standard that the College will use to determine whether or not conduct creates legal liability for the College will be:

 

a)   If the College receives formal notification of copyright infringement due to the actions of a QCC faculty or staff member using the QCC technology resources, the College will notify the faculty or staff member of the claimed infringement. It will be the burden of the faculty or staff member to show that the alleged infringement is not a violation of the law.

b) If the infringement is a verified and actionable violation of the law, the computer privileges of the faculty or staff member may be suspended or terminated by the President or President’s designee.