Terms of Use

• Introduction
• Guiding Principles
• Standards of Conduct
• Web Host Administration Standards
• Server Access & Management
• Dispute and Complaint Procedures
• Legal Requirements

The Mt. San Antonio College web site is an important strategic asset that leverages the power of the Internet and the World Wide Web as an educational and marketing tool. On several levels, the web site helps the college fulfill its mission and vision to meet the needs of its faculty, staff, student body, and community.

The Web Site Standards and Practices were created to promote the college's academic divisions and departments, programs and services, and students, whom altogether make up the college online community. The web site also functions as a valuable means of communication between the college and the communities which it serves.

Mission Statement

The Vision of the Mt. San Antonio Web Site is to provide access to quality informational resources in an atmosphere that encourages creativity and intellectual freedom, and to provide timely, helpful, and accurate information about classes, programs, individuals, events, and services while showcasing Mt. SAC as an innovative leader in quality educational opportunities.

Vision Statement

The Vision of the Mt. San Antonio College Web Site is to:

• Be representative the entire Mt. San Antonio College community
• Be user-friendly with clear navigation, searchable information, and interactive feedback
• Be sensitive to user limitations
• Be current with valuable information about Mt. SAC programs and services
• Be responsive to questions, consider comments and feedback, and provide contact information
• Be visually appealing while maintaining the general college identity and brand

1. Guiding Principles

1.1 Mt. San Antonio College will provide Web Hosting services in an intellectual environment that encourages the free and open exchange of information and ideas for administration, faculty, staff, and students who wish to create a web presence using the College web server. The College encourages an atmosphere of intellectual respect and responsibility to ensure everyone enjoys creative freedom without fear their intellectual efforts will be violated, altered, destroyed, or plagiarized.

1.2 To ensure an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and respect, the College requires that all members of the College online community accept responsibility to protect and respect the rights of others. Any member of the College online community who, without authorization, accesses, uses, alters, or destroys the intellectual property of others or who accesses, uses, alters, destroys, or denies access to College information resources will be subject to disciplinary action and possible criminal prosecution.

1.3 While the College encourages the free and open access to information resources and exchange of ideas, all users of College information resources should have the right to choose which information to access and view. Users of College information resources should therefore take responsible and reasonable care to neither knowingly nor deliberately expose others to material that might be considered offensive. Since the web site is the world's window to Mt. San Antonio College, the College encourages all members of its online community to exhibit high ethical and intellectual standards.

1.4 These principles apply to all members of the College online community, including administration, faculty, staff, and students of the College. While the College encourages intellectual and creative freedom, it also highly encourages responsible use.

1.5 The purpose of the Standards of Conduct is to ensure security of the information and technology provided by Mt. San Antonio College to members of the College online community and to promote the efficient, effective, ethical, and legal use of the web site and information resources. The spirit of these standards is to encourage respect and cooperation and promote the ethical, legal, and secure use of the web and information resources. The College provides web host services and access to information resources with the understanding that members of the College online community will contribute positively to the free and open exchange of information and ideas.

1.6 The College expects its online community members to use the web and information resources in a manner consistent with instructional and administrative objectives of the College. Members are encouraged to safeguard personal information, passwords and authorization codes, and other confidential data. In exchange for hosting and access services, members of the College online community agree to abide by these guidelines. These standards and practices guidelines are not necessarily all-inclusive, and may be modified at any time

2. Standards of Conduct

2.1 Respect the Privacy of All Members - Intentionally seeking out or divulging access, personal, or sensitive information to unauthorized individuals or groups without explicit authorization or to encourage others to seek out or divulge such information will be considered a violation of this policy.

2.2 Respect the Rights of All Members - Behavior that creates an atmosphere discouraging intellectual and creative freedom, disparaging individuals or groups, or expressing intolerance based on ethnicity, religious belief, or sexual preference will be considered a violation of this policy.

2.3 Respect System Security and Integrity - Activity that threatens the security of the College web site and information resources, unreasonably taxes system resources, makes frivolent use of system resources, or interferes with the efficiency of system resources will be considered a violation of this policy.

2.4 Respect College Policies - Use of information resources or technology, networks, or other computing resources that violate general College policies or procedures or violate the ethical or legal use of software or administrative data will be considered a violation of this policy.

2.5 Respect the Law - Use of the College web or information resources that violate penal or civil law, including but not limited to intellectual property, trademark, or computing resources, libel, or other civil rights violations, will be considered a violation of this policy.

3. Web Host Administration Standards

3.1 The Information and Education Technology Department (IET) is responsible for administration of Internet services. IET recognizes the growing desire and need for administration, faculty, staff, and various College services and programs, as well as student clubs and organizations to create a web presence. At the same time, IET is also responsible for ensuring the safety and security of its technology and the security of confidential information and other real and virtual assets. IET will use the following guidelines to fulfill these responsibilities.

3.1.1 Host Internet Services - IET is the official provider of connectivity and Internet Services to all College academic and administrative programs and services. IET will provide Content Managers a reasonable but limited amount of space on the host web server. Additional space may be granted to various administrative or academic programs and services upon request with division approval.

3.1.2 Provide A Safe and Secure Environment - IET will provide all User ID and password access to Internet services. To safeguard the security of the web host and integrity of the web site, access to the web host is granted only to authorized individuals or Content Managers. IET will make every effort to provide an environment free from hostile, discriminatory, unethical, or illegal activity.

3.1.3 Support And Service - IET will make every effort to provide Internet-related Host and Network Administration support services for College administration, faculty, staff, institutional programs and services.

3.1.4 Ensure A Free and Open Atmosphere - IET, through the Webmaster, will provide an atmosphere for free and responsible expression of creativity and exchange of information and ideas within ethical and legal boundaries. IET will support College policies and guidelines with no other restrictions or censorship to content except when directed by the oversight committee or college legal department.

3.2 The "Web Host" is the college's gateway to the Internet and is where all web pages are stored and maintained. The Mt. San Antonio College web site uses a centralized Host, meaning all administrative, academic, and personal pages are stored on the host system. A centrally located Host allows for greater control over access, security, integrity, and reliability of the college web site.

3.3 A "Content Manager" is any individual responsible for uploading web pages to the web server. Each Content Manager is provided access only to the directory he or she will be responsible for maintaining and should not share this access with anyone unless the Department Chair or Division Dean and Webmaster are notified. If a Content Manager needs to temporarily or permanently transfer access control to another person, the Department Chair or Division Dean should submit a request to the Webmaster. Access for personal web pages is non-transferrable.

4. Server Access & Management

4.1 The "Web Host" is where all institutional web pages are stored and maintained. To ensure the integrity and security of the Host, access will only be granted to authorized individuals, e.g. Content Managers. Content Managers must request a UserID and Password using the "Content Manager Web Server Access Request" form available from IET. Forms must be signed by one of the following:

4.1.1 Team Leader, Division Dean, or Department Chairs for instructional departments
4.1.2 Team Leaders or Supervisors for Administrative departments
4.1.3 Club Advisor or Office of Student Life for student clubs and organizations
4.1.4 Department Chair or Sponsoring Professor for academic-related student pages

Before submitting the "Content Manager Web Server Request" form, the designated signee should review the web pages to ensure the pages adhere to the "Web Page Development Guidelines" and do not violate any of the "Web Page Standards & Practices."

4.2 Instructional and Administrative departments should request access for one content manager; however, departments may request access for additional content managers as needed. Selecting one content manager to coordinate all web page development and transfer of files to the web server is strongly recommended to avoid duplicate (out-of-sequence) files and ensure tighter security.

4.3 Access to the web server will not be given to non-Mt. SAC personnel. Divisions or Departments that have outsourced web page development must make arrangements with the Webmaster for transferring files to the appropriate space on the web server.

4.4 Student Clubs may request server space through their Faculty Advisor. Club Faculty Advisors will be responsible for approving club web pages and submitting Content Manager Access request forms to the Webmaster.

4.5 Student web pages for class assignments must be reviewed and approved by the course instructor. The course instructor must submit a "Class Assignment Server Access Request" form for students who need "Content Manager" access for class assignments. Students who want to create academic-related web pages (not as class assignments) must obtain sponsorship from a Professor, Department Chair, or Division Dean. The sponsor will review and approve the web page and submit a "Content Manager Web Server Access Request" form to the Webmaster.

5. Dispute and Complaint Procedures

5.1 All web pages hosted by the college Web Server are subject to review for adherence to the Web Site Standards and Practices and the Web Page Development Guidelines. Reviews may be conducted at any time by the Webmaster and/or college management. Complaints may also be submitted by any web site visitor. All complaints, regardless of who originated them, will be treated seriously and equally.

5.2 Violations of the Web Site Standards and Practices and the Web Page Development Guidelines shall be reported to the Webmaster via the online complaint form or by filling out a complaint form available at the IET HelpDesk in Building 5. Web-based complaint forms must include a valid email address. Complaint forms must contain a signature. Anonymous complaints or complaints with forged email addresses will not be reviewed.

5.3 Complaints about web pages should be submitted to the Webmaster and must include justifiable reason(s) for the complaint and the specific Standards & Practices or Development Guidelines line item(s) of which the web page is in violation. Complaints that do not reference specific line item(s) will be disregarded. Anonymous complaints will be disregarded.

5.4 Complaints will be submitted to the Webmaster for initial review. If the Webmaster determines the complaint valid, the Webmaster will contact the appropriate "Content Manager" to discuss the complaint and explain the violations.

5.5 If the Content Manager disputes the findings of the Webmaster, the Content Manager may fill out and submit a Request for Oversight Review form available at the IET HelpDesk in Building 5. This review will consist of at least three members of the Web Team excluding the Webmaster. The Web Team will review the original complaint and the Webmaster's findings. If, after this review, the Web Team concurs with the Webmaster's findings, the Content Manager will be notified that the web pages are in violation.

5.6 The Content Manager may then choose to fix the violation(s) or to dispute them. If the Content Manager disputes the Web Team's findings, the Webmaster will schedule a meeting with the Content Manager's supervisor, Division Dean, or Team Leader to discuss the violations. The supervisor, Division Dean, or Team Leader will review the web pages, original complaint, the Webmaster's findings, and the Web Team's findings and decide whether the web page is in violation. This decision will be final.

6. Legal Requirements

6.1 Content Managers are responsible for ensuring web pages abide all department, college, district, city, state, and federal policies, rules, and laws. These include, but are not limited to matters of copyright, trademark, registered trademark, obscenity, sexual harassment, and hate speech. Content Managers are cautioned to use licensed software, freeware, or shareware for which the required fee has been paid. Faculty members are advised to be particularly sensitive to copyright laws when posting copyrighted material to their web site. The "Fair Use" doctrine does not grant approval to provide online access to copyrighted material for classroom use.

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