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Policy 2302 – Campus Computer Use Policy

Revision Date:  11/18/2021
Last Review:  11/18/2021
Responsible Office: Computing Center

Policy:

The computing facilities at Louisiana Tech are provided for the use of Louisiana Tech students, faculty, and staff in support of the programs of the University. All students, faculty, and staff are responsible for ensuring that these computing facilities are used in an effective, efficient, ethical, and lawful manner.

The following policies relate to their use:

  1. Computer facilities and accounts are owned by the University and are to be used for University-related activities only. All access, including University computing and cloud services to central computer systems and the issuing of passwords, must be approved through the Computing Center. All access to departmental computer systems or University cloud-based services must be approved by the department head or an authorized representative.
  2. Computer equipment and accounts are to be used only for the purpose for which they are assigned and are not to be used for commercial purposes or non-University related business. Incidental use of computer communications facilities by members of the faculty and staff for the purpose of creating and maintaining job efficiency and harmonious working relationships is consistent with this policy.
  3. An account assigned to an individual by the Computing Center or a department must not be used by others. The individual is responsible for the proper use of the account, including proper password protection. Accounts created for instructional use in a class or for a research project may be shared with the explicit permission from the instructor or administrator requesting the account and by the Computing Center or department assigning the account.
  4. Students and employees should have no expectation of privacy when utilizing University computing resources. The University reserves the right to inspect, without notice, the contents of computer files, regardless of medium, the contents of electronic mailboxes, the contents of cloud-based storage, systems output regardless of medium, and to monitor network communication when:
    • it is considered reasonably necessary to maintain or protect the integrity, security, or functionality of University or other computer resources or to protect the University from liability;
    • there is reasonable cause to believe that the user has violated the Campus Computer Use Policy or otherwise misused computing resources;
    • an account appears to be engaged in unusual or unusually excessive activity; or,
    • it is otherwise required or permitted by law.

      Such inspection or monitoring may be conducted only by authorized personnel for compelling business or security reasons and only with the approval of the President or the following designees:

      • for faculty members, the Provost;
      • for staff members, the Associate Vice President for Finance and Comptroller; or
      • for students, the Executive Vice President and Vice President for Student Advancement. (Adopted 4/9/01)
  5. Electronic communications facilities (such as electronic mail, WWW home pages, USENET newsgroups, etc.) are for University-related activities only. Fraudulent, harassing, or obscene messages and/or other materials are not to be posted, sent, or stored. (In regard to Social Media, please refer to Policy 1308– Online Social Media Usage Policy).
  6. No one may deliberately attempt to degrade the performance of a computer system or to deprive authorized personnel of resources or access to any University computer system.
  7. Loopholes in computer security systems or knowledge of a special password must not be used to damage computer systems, obtain extra resources, take resources from another user, gain access to systems, or use systems for which proper authorization has not been given.
  8. Materials protected by copyright are not to be copied from, into, or by using campus computing facilities, except as permitted by law or by contract with the owner of the copyright. This means that such materials may only be copied in order to make back-up copies, if permitted by the copyright owner. The number of copies and distribution of the copies may not be done in such a way that the number of simultaneous users in a department exceeds the number of original copies purchased by that department. Materials would include, but not be limited to, software, audio, image, video, and test data.
  9. All licensed computer software must be installed by an approved designee as identified in the college or administrative division. Software licenses must be maintained in the department or unit office and available for inspection. The installation and use of unlicensed computer software is in violation of University policy. University employees who violate this policy are subject to disciplinary action and fines. (Adopted 7/6/01).  Software that is no longer supported by the vendor should be avoided as it creates a significant cybersecurity risk for the University computing environment (Unsupported Operating Systems, web browsers, etc.)
  10. Louisiana Tech will address and resolve issues of copyright infringement and has implemented preventive measures to educate and to ensure proper use of peer-to-peer (P2P) applications on the campus network and in residential housing. When a P2P Copyright Violation Notice is received, (1) The user is identified by examination of log records for the specified IP address and timestamp, (2) Violation details are stored in a database, (3) The user is notified by e-mail and sent a copy of the notice (Students: RIAA notice – user receiving additional notices referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, a hold placed on registration, and computing privileges suspended; MPAA notice – user referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, a hold placed on registration, and computing privileges suspended. Employees: notice forwarded to employee and to the immediate supervisor and the Provost).

 

An individual’s computer use privileges may be suspended immediately upon the discovery of a possible violation of these policies. Such suspected violations will be confidentially reported to the appropriate faculty, supervisors, department heads, Computing Center staff, and Vice Presidents/Provost.

The appropriate administrative staff or supervising department head will judge an offense as either major or minor. A first minor offense will normally be dealt with by the Computing Center administrative staff or supervising department head after consultation with the instructor or administrator requesting the account. Additional offenses will be regarded as major offenses. Appeals relating to minor offenses may be made to the supervising Vice Presidents/Provost. Major offenses will be dealt with by the supervising Vice Presidents/Provost.

Violations of the policies will be dealt with in the same manner as violations of other University policies and may result in disciplinary review. In such a review, the full range of disciplinary sanctions is available including the loss of computer use privileges, dismissal from the University, and legal action.

Violations of some of the above policies may constitute a criminal offense. Individuals using campus computing facilities should be familiar with the current Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:73 and its sub-parts, Computer Related Crimes (Adopted 1997).

Definitions:

Not applicable.

Procedures:

Not applicable.

Policy 2302 – Campus Computer Use Policy

Revision Date:  11/18/2021
Last Review:  11/18/2021
Responsible Office: Computing Center

Policy:

The computing facilities at Louisiana Tech are provided for the use of Louisiana Tech students, faculty, and staff in support of the programs of the University. All students, faculty, and staff are responsible for ensuring that these computing facilities are used in an effective, efficient, ethical, and lawful manner.

The following policies relate to their use:

  1. Computer facilities and accounts are owned by the University and are to be used for University-related activities only. All access, including University computing and cloud services to central computer systems and the issuing of passwords, must be approved through the Computing Center. All access to departmental computer systems or University cloud-based services must be approved by the department head or an authorized representative.
  2. Computer equipment and accounts are to be used only for the purpose for which they are assigned and are not to be used for commercial purposes or non-University related business. Incidental use of computer communications facilities by members of the faculty and staff for the purpose of creating and maintaining job efficiency and harmonious working relationships is consistent with this policy.
  3. An account assigned to an individual by the Computing Center or a department must not be used by others. The individual is responsible for the proper use of the account, including proper password protection. Accounts created for instructional use in a class or for a research project may be shared with the explicit permission from the instructor or administrator requesting the account and by the Computing Center or department assigning the account.
  4. Students and employees should have no expectation of privacy when utilizing University computing resources. The University reserves the right to inspect, without notice, the contents of computer files, regardless of medium, the contents of electronic mailboxes, the contents of cloud-based storage, systems output regardless of medium, and to monitor network communication when:
    • it is considered reasonably necessary to maintain or protect the integrity, security, or functionality of University or other computer resources or to protect the University from liability;
    • there is reasonable cause to believe that the user has violated the Campus Computer Use Policy or otherwise misused computing resources;
    • an account appears to be engaged in unusual or unusually excessive activity; or,
    • it is otherwise required or permitted by law.

      Such inspection or monitoring may be conducted only by authorized personnel for compelling business or security reasons and only with the approval of the President or the following designees:

      • for faculty members, the Provost;
      • for staff members, the Associate Vice President for Finance and Comptroller; or
      • for students, the Executive Vice President and Vice President for Student Advancement. (Adopted 4/9/01)
  5. Electronic communications facilities (such as electronic mail, WWW home pages, USENET newsgroups, etc.) are for University-related activities only. Fraudulent, harassing, or obscene messages and/or other materials are not to be posted, sent, or stored. (In regard to Social Media, please refer to Policy 1308– Online Social Media Usage Policy).
  6. No one may deliberately attempt to degrade the performance of a computer system or to deprive authorized personnel of resources or access to any University computer system.
  7. Loopholes in computer security systems or knowledge of a special password must not be used to damage computer systems, obtain extra resources, take resources from another user, gain access to systems, or use systems for which proper authorization has not been given.
  8. Materials protected by copyright are not to be copied from, into, or by using campus computing facilities, except as permitted by law or by contract with the owner of the copyright. This means that such materials may only be copied in order to make back-up copies, if permitted by the copyright owner. The number of copies and distribution of the copies may not be done in such a way that the number of simultaneous users in a department exceeds the number of original copies purchased by that department. Materials would include, but not be limited to, software, audio, image, video, and test data.
  9. All licensed computer software must be installed by an approved designee as identified in the college or administrative division. Software licenses must be maintained in the department or unit office and available for inspection. The installation and use of unlicensed computer software is in violation of University policy. University employees who violate this policy are subject to disciplinary action and fines. (Adopted 7/6/01).  Software that is no longer supported by the vendor should be avoided as it creates a significant cybersecurity risk for the University computing environment (Unsupported Operating Systems, web browsers, etc.)
  10. Louisiana Tech will address and resolve issues of copyright infringement and has implemented preventive measures to educate and to ensure proper use of peer-to-peer (P2P) applications on the campus network and in residential housing. When a P2P Copyright Violation Notice is received, (1) The user is identified by examination of log records for the specified IP address and timestamp, (2) Violation details are stored in a database, (3) The user is notified by e-mail and sent a copy of the notice (Students: RIAA notice – user receiving additional notices referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, a hold placed on registration, and computing privileges suspended; MPAA notice – user referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, a hold placed on registration, and computing privileges suspended. Employees: notice forwarded to employee and to the immediate supervisor and the Provost).

 

An individual’s computer use privileges may be suspended immediately upon the discovery of a possible violation of these policies. Such suspected violations will be confidentially reported to the appropriate faculty, supervisors, department heads, Computing Center staff, and Vice Presidents/Provost.

The appropriate administrative staff or supervising department head will judge an offense as either major or minor. A first minor offense will normally be dealt with by the Computing Center administrative staff or supervising department head after consultation with the instructor or administrator requesting the account. Additional offenses will be regarded as major offenses. Appeals relating to minor offenses may be made to the supervising Vice Presidents/Provost. Major offenses will be dealt with by the supervising Vice Presidents/Provost.

Violations of the policies will be dealt with in the same manner as violations of other University policies and may result in disciplinary review. In such a review, the full range of disciplinary sanctions is available including the loss of computer use privileges, dismissal from the University, and legal action.

Violations of some of the above policies may constitute a criminal offense. Individuals using campus computing facilities should be familiar with the current Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:73 and its sub-parts, Computer Related Crimes (Adopted 1997).

Definitions:

Not applicable.

Procedures:

Not applicable.