Policy on the Acceptable Use of
Information Technology Resources
at Hennepin Technical College
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish written guidelines for
the appropriate use of information technology resources at Hennepin
Technical College (HTC).
Definitions of Terms Used in this Document
| Information Technology (IT): any computer; telephony equipment; network equipment; peripheral; storage device; data file |
| Community: any MnSCU employee, student, alumnus, authorized guest, and vendor |
| User: any person using any IT equipment or service, either locally or remotely |
Provision of Services
HTC provides IT resources in support of its mission to provide quality
technical education needed for employment in an ever-changing global
work environment. As an institution of higher education, the College
intends to provide the community with open and unrestricted avenues of
communication as long as such use is in compliance with state and
federal laws, other HTC policies, and MnSCU policies. The College
reserves the right to summarily limit or suspend access to facilities,
equipment, and services, as necessary, to comply with applicable laws,
to protect the interests of HTC and other members of the community,
and to preserve the integrity and performance of IT systems.
As with all IT services, local and long-distance telephone services are provided for employees to conduct college-related business. Employees should limit their use of the telephone for personal communications. Any employee wishing to make a personal long-distance call must use a pay phone, a personal phone card, a collect call, or have the charges applied to their home number. Business Office staff routinely review the log of long-distance calls charged to the College and will request that employees reimburse the College for all calls not directly related to College business.
Priority of Use
While the College does not strictly limit the use of information
technology services, activities related to the College's educational
mission take precedence. Use of IT resources for personal or
recreational activities may be limited depending on the capacity of
the IT systems to support such activities.
Rights and Obligations
All users are responsible for using HTC IT resources in an
appropriate manner. All applicable laws, statutes, and policies
related to personal behavior apply to electronic communications. Such
laws and policies prohibit, among other things, lewd or indecent
conduct, threat of physical harm, stalking, forgery, disruption of
College services, damaging or destroying of property, discrimination,
and sexual harassment. All users are expected to respect the integrity
of all security controls and abide by all security measures that have
been implemented, as well as adhere to all end-user license and
contractual agreements associated with HTC IT resources.
The use of HTC’s logo and trademarks requires a review by the marketing division and written permission from the College Administration.
Cooperation With Investigations
Depending on the nature and severity of an alleged violation, HTC
may notify the appropriate campus or external authorities for further
investigation and possible disciplinary action or prosecution. Users
violating HTC policies or state and federal laws may be subject to
prosecution. While HTC technical staff members strive to provide
reliable and secure IT resources, users should not consider the data
storage or transmission systems to be secure and private.
Any data stored or transmitted using HTC IT resources and is subject to examination by supervisors or law enforcement under circumstances warranting investigation. Under these circumstances, access to any files stored using HTC IT resources will be provided to supervisors or any other college administrators in the direct line of reporting upon request.
Enforcement
HTC may deny members of the community who violate this policy or
otherwise use HTC IT resources to violate other established policies
or laws access to IT resources. Violations that constitute a breach of
the Student Conduct Code or other HTC policy may be referred to the
respective campus authority for review and possible disciplinary
action.
Reporting and Notification
If a potential violation occurs in a College classroom or lab,
that violation should be reported to the faculty, staff monitoring the
facility or to the Dean of Technology. If a potential violation occurs
in a noninstructional area, the situation should be reported to the
supervisor of the department and HR.
Where appropriate, whoever is notified first shall review the activities and, if merited, notify the user that they are in violation of this policy and request that they take immediate remedial action to bring their conduct into compliance. The violation should then be reported to the Dean of Technology as soon as possible so damage to data or system integrity may be assessed. College personnel may take immediate action, as needed, to abate ongoing interference with network and system operations or to insure system integrity.
Complaints or Grievances
If a user’s access to IT resources is suspended as a result of an
investigation, the alleged violator may appeal the suspension to the
appropriate Vice President and then to the President, in that order.
If an allegation relates to personal harassment or similar behavior, the staff or administrator will direct the affected person to file a complaint with the responsible authority using established procedures. Staff and administrators will cooperate fully in investigations but should not file complaints on behalf of aggrieved parties. The decision to file a complaint or prosecute is the responsibility of the affected party.
Principles of Responsible IT Use
The following principles and examples are intended to illustrate
some examples of unacceptable actions rather than to exhaustively list
every specific behavior that may violate the Acceptable Use Policy.
These principles are derived directly from the same standards of
common sense and decency that apply to the use of any public resource.
Principle #1: Respect the privacy and rights of others.
Users may not use any HTC IT resource to:
attempt to gain unauthorized access to any system, network, service, or data inside or external to HTC;
monitor network traffic or undertake comparable measures without specific permission from the Dean of Technology and Network and Software Support Services;
store or run programs that are designed to capture keystrokes, passwords, mouse clicks, or data that is not considered a normal business practice;
send e-mail that is intimidating or harassing;
create a hostile working or learning environment by displaying sexually explicit images or sounds;
violate any laws pertaining to child pornography, obscenity, and defamation;
duplicate or install software except in strict accordance with applicable licensing agreements and with permission from the Dean of Technology and Network and Software Support Services;
house or distribute unauthorized software, music, video, or other information resources.
Principle #2: Respect other people’s ability to benefit.
Users may not use any HTC IT resource to:
engage in activities which compromise institutional systems or network performance;
interfere with the institution’s ability to provide the best possible service to the overall community;
run programs that introduce a virus, worm, or another destructive or disruptive program;
launch "denial-of-service" attacks against internal or external systems;
create, transmit, or forward electronic chain letters, spam, or mail bombs.
violate copyright laws
Principle #3: Identify yourself truthfully.
Users may not use HTC IT resources to:
falsely identify themselves in communications;
attempt to "spoof" or otherwise represent their network activities as originating from a network address other than the actual source.
Principle #4: Unauthorized commercial use is prohibited.
Users may not use HTC IT resources to:
conduct commercial activities without prior written authorization from the President;
market a home business;
host a commercial web page;
allow anyone who does not have authorized use to access any IT resource or service;
conduct political campaigns;
operate unauthorized information services.
Contact HTC at 952-995-1300 or info@hennepintech.edu
Copyright © 2008 by Hennepin Technical College