RCC Help Desk Website and Forms

Acceptable and Unacceptable Uses

• Refrain from engaging in deliberately wasteful, illegal, or harmful practices. These are not limited but may include chain letters, use of printers as copy machines, distribution or circulation of media known to contain invasive computer software such as viruses and personal use of any Web-based audio or video.
• Unnecessarily using electronic equipment for long periods of time when others are waiting for the resources: i.e., printers, copiers, phones.
• Electronic mailings to All of RCC must display approval by the appropriate executive dean or president's office.
• RCC resources shall not be used for political lobbying or campaigning.
• Reasonable personal use is allowed. (see privacy disclaimer below)
• Use of electronic systems to interfere with the work of employees or students, or to disrupt the normal operation of the College, is unacceptable.
• The user of any RCC equipment, either on site or remotely, shall not use it for personal financial gain.
• Unacceptable computer use may result in disciplinary action or dismissal.

Harassment

• RCC's harassment policy, as printed in the catalog and schedule, extends to the networked world. For example, sending unsolicited or repeated electronic messages that unreasonably interfere with anyone's education or work at RCC may constitute harassment.
• RCC's policy and state and federal statutes prohibit unwanted sexual behavior, lewd or indecent conduct, and behavior defined as "stalking." Electronic versions of these behaviors are also prohibited.
• Intentional transmission or display of unwanted messages, information, or graphic images which create a hostile school or work environment are inappropriate uses of College electronic resources and violate RCC's policy on harassment, as well as federal and state laws.
• Inappropriate use of electronic resources may result in disciplinary action or dismissal.

Privacy Disclaimer

• All administrative electronic data should be treated as confidential, other than data that has been designated as approved by the president for release to the public. Employees should adhere to any applicable federal and state laws concerning storage, retention, and destruction of data. Institutional data shall be used only for legitimate RCC business.
• Individual student educational records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). In order to ensure that FERPA laws are not violated, prior approval by the Director of Enrollment Services is required for disclosure of student records information to any person or agency outside of RCC.
• All users will respect the privacy of others by refraining from inspecting, broadcasting, or modifying personal data files without the prior consent of the individuals involved.
• Computer activity, including Internet usage, is monitored by authorized individuals for purposes of maintaining system performance and security. When individuals are suspected of abuse of computer usage, the contents of user files may also be inspected.
• E-mail messages are not necessarily protected from disclosure. It is possible for messages protected by a password or which have been deleted to be accessed by others. All e-mail messages are ultimately considered college property. There shall be no expectation of privacy or personal confidentiality in electronic communications.
• RCC will make every effort to ensure the integrity of its various systems. Safeguards are maintained; however, no system can ensure absolute system security. Thus, users should not rely on system safeguards to ensure privacy or integrity of information stored or transmitted.

System Respect/Security

• Respect the RCC system. No one shall knowingly introduce invasive computer software such as viruses nor shall users attempt to jeopardize any information systems. Such behavior may result in disciplinary action or dismissal.
• Loopholes in security systems or knowledge of a special password are not to be used to alter information systems, obtain extra resources, take resources from another user, gain access to systems, or use systems for which proper authorization has not been given.
• Users without proper authorization should never access or attempt to access any computer/network equipment, data, or software. Access includes, but is not limited to reading, writing, creating, deleting, modifying or copying of data, or moving, connecting, or disconnecting cables or devices, changing equipment settings, or wiretapping. Data includes, but is not limited to printouts, contents of removable media, or other physical computer media and data communications.
• System management techniques should be used by all levels of college staff to ensure that (a) the integrity of information is preserved through access controls and data custodianship assignments; (b) system capabilities can be reestablished within an appropriate time frame upon loss or damage by accident, malfunction, breach of security, or natural disaster; and (c) actual or attempted breaches of security can be detected promptly.

Account Responsibility/Password Security

• Accounts shall be used for authorized purposes only.
• Every computer account issued by RCC is the responsibility of the person in whose name it is issued. It is, therefore, mandatory that the owner of an account notify their supervisor if it appears anyone else is using their account.
• Users may not authorize others to use their accounts for any reason.
• Users may not give their password(s) to other users.
• Users are responsible for all usage of their accounts. Users shall take all reasonable precautions, including password maintenance and file protection measures, to prevent use of their accounts by others.
• Authorizing others to use accounts or passwords that have been issued to you, may result in disciplinary action or dismissal.

Liability Disclaimer for Lost Data

• RCC will attempt to plan for and advise users of scheduled down time; however, information resources can and will go down at unplanned times, and RCC can assume no liability for any data lost or unavailability of data.
• RCC assumes no liability for lost revenue, lost data, lost output, time delay, system performance, software performance, incorrect advice from a consultant or other damages arising from the use of RCC information resources, either on-site or remotely. Signing this agreement releases RCC from any claim.

Internet Disclaimer

• RCC does not exercise control of material available on the Internet, some of which may be offensive to network users.

Copyright - License

• Copyrighted software is not to be copied from, into, or by using RCC information systems, except as permitted by law and by the contract or license agreement with the owner of the copyright. The use of software on a local or a wide-area network or on multiple computers shall be in accordance with the license agreement.
• All data and software used on RCC information systems must comply with federal and international copyright law.

Consequence for Misuses

• Misuse of RCC electronic resources constitutes a violation of this procedure and may result in disciplinary action or dismissal.
• The college reserves the right to suspend, modify, or terminate any user's right to access any RCC electronic system for any violation of this procedure. The decision to take any actions and the degree of action is at the discretion of the president and/or the appropriate executive dean and/or his or her designee in accordance with Human Resource policy.

revised 2/22/05