The Fairfield University Web Committee (FUWC) recommends
that the following statement be adopted as an interim policy
governing the implementation of World Wide Web servers on the
Fairfield internet domain.
This interim policy shall not be construed to set any precedent for future policy, nor shall it be construed as binding on future policy. The purpose of this policy is to bring Web servers under regulation while the FUWC undertakes the development of a more permanent policy.
WWW Policy:
A. Web Servers
1. The University shall maintain a single official "Fairfield University Home Page" at the "www.fairfield.edu" internet address. All web pages on any other web servers at Fairfield that are linked to the official Fairfield University Home Page shall contain a link back to this official home page.
2. Existing web servers on the Fairfield internet domain may continue in operation at their present addresses and locations at least until a permanent policy on web servers is established. The server and/or the information may be required to be located on an isolated segment of the network depending upon the volume of traffic they generate. The FUNRSC web server shall be permitted to resume its operation, governed by this interim policy.
3. University departments, divisions, and organizations shall have the right to establish and maintain a web server with links to the official Fairfield University Home Page. The physical placement of such servers and their address on the network shall be determined by the FUWC and the office of Communications and Technology Services(CTS) . Official University material will be required to relocate to the official Fairfield University web server.
Departments and organizations within the University are free to maintain web pages beyond the official web pages maintained by the University for their programs and offices. These pages shall be linked to the official pages at the discretion of the department or office. The contents of web pages beyond the official departmental pages will be governed by those departments themselves, in consultation with the Dean of their school or other supervising authority.
A separate dedicated server will be provided for unofficial personal pages. Web servers not containing official material will be permitted to operate and may be required to be located on an isolated segment of the network depending upon the volume of traffic they generate.
4. When an official Fairfield WWW server is designated and becomes available, faculty, departments, divisions and organizations shall be given immediate and exclusive write and delete access rights to their designated subdirectories on the web server within the limitations of the resources available. Institutional materials, such as divisional and departmental home pages shall be given priority if disk space becomes limited.
5. As the resources become available, students, faculty and staff shall have a right to post personal web pages on a designated University web server and have them linked to the hierarchy of the official Fairfield University Home Page. When such a web server becomes available, each student, faculty and staff member will immediately be given exclusive write and delete access to their designated subdirectories on the Web server, subject to the guidelines described in this policy. Access for faculty and staff will be provided by May 1, 1996. By September 1, 1996 students will also be given exclusive write and delete access to their designated subdirectories on the web server.
The University shall maintain a link to a list of personal (student, faculty or staff) home pages, accessible through the following disclaimer:
"The views expressed here are those
of the student/faculty/staff author and
do not represent those of Fairfield University
or its affiliates."
Web pages published on the Fairfield internet domain, even if they are not linked in any way to the official Fairfield University Home Page, shall also be required to bear the above disclaimer.
6. Links on web pages published on the Fairfield domain shall not misrepresent the contents of pages to which they point. Intentional misrepresentation by Fairfield students, faculty, and staff of the contents of a web page is prohibited.
7. Security of web servers: It shall be the responsibility
of the person or group in charge of the machine running a web
server to take all reasonable steps to insure that web users
do not gain unauthorized access to other directories and files
on their machine.
B. Content of Web pages:
The World Wide Web provides an important means of communication for academic and learning-related purposes. The principle of academic freedom will apply to the publishing of web pages. [Please refer to the relevant pages of the Faculty Handbook, p.20, of the 1993 eighth edition and the 1995-96 Fairfield University catalogue, p.25.]
Limitations:
1. Exception to the above is the commercial use of computer, information and communications technology resources. Commercial use is defined as the advertisement and/or sales of services or products using Fairfield University information and communications technology resources.
Not included in this exception is the use of Fairfield resources for the publishing of one's resume.
2. All individuals or organizations that publish web pages on a Fairfield internet domain, are bound by the contractual obligations of the Fairfield Universityís Internet Access Provider, JvNCnet of Princeton, NJ.
All publishers of web pages agree that they shall not use
the Internet connection...
a)...for illegal purposes or to resell the
use of this internet service
b)Öto transmit threatening, obscene,
or harassing materials
c)Öto interfere with or disrupt network
users, services or equipment
Disruptions include, but are not limited to, distribution of unsolicited advertising, propagation of computer worms and viruses, and using the network to make unauthorized entry to any other machine accessible via the network.
3. All individuals or organizations which publish web pages on the Fairfield internet domain are bound by all applicable local, state and federal laws governing the transmission of electronic documents on the internet.
4. Electronic files of any sort made available
to the public (via anonymous internet protocols such as FTP or
WWW) on the Fairfield University network shall comply with community
standards of decency and intellectual integrity. Electronic
files of any sort not placed in the public domain (i.e.,
not linked to publicly available files as on the WWW) or not
accessible to the public shall be considered private. Prior censorship
will not be exercised upon any member of the Fairfield University
community in publishing internet documents.
Until the University establishes a permanent procedure for violations and complaints, non-faculty issues will be referred to the appropriate vice-president. Faculty issues will be referred to the Director of Academic Computing and the Academic Vice-President.
The FUWC will be available to work with the vice-presidents of the various divisions to establish guidelines that fit within the parameters of their current policies. in all cases, the FUWC will remain available to help mediate violations and complaints.
In keeping with the educational mission of the University, responses to such violations of this policy should, in the first instance, be instructive.