Southern Union State Community College provides internet and email services to all students through computer labs, college libraries, and wireless access in specific locations throughout all campuses. Being consistent with our mission, Southern Union has invested in computing resources to provide students with reliable internet access that is readily available and computers with current software that is used in a variety of courses.
These policies apply to all users that use college computers, internet services, and network resources, including but not limited to Southern Union students, faculty, staff, administrators, and guests of Southern Union. Users may be asked to provide proper identification upon using the school’s resources.
Acceptable Uses
All college-provided computers shall be compliant with the educational purposes and goals of Southern Union. It is mandatory that all users conduct themselves in a responsible, ethical, and moral manner. All users must adhere to local, state, and federal laws and maintain a high standard of internet use that is outlined in this policy. Use of the internet, college computers and network resources within Southern Union is a privilege and information attained from these computers shall be deemed the property of the College. Southern Union reserves the right to monitor and review any material on college computers at any time in order to determine inappropriate use.
Guidelines for Appropriate Use
- Use of college computers is limited to educational purposes which include: completing class assignments, educational advancement, and obtaining general knowledge.
- The computers at Southern Union are not to be used to play games, participate in chat rooms, or any peer-to-peer activity used to transfer files.
- Southern Union will not be responsible for any lost or damaged data to removeable disks. Users must save all files to their own disks and no files should be saved to the college computers.
- Computers should not be used to display personal information or for the endorsing of political candidates.
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Any attempts to deface or alter any computer or network resource provided by Southern Union could result in disciplinary action.
Southern Union State Community College and The Alabama Supercomputer Authority reserve the right to monitor and review all traffic for potential violations of this policy and have authority to levy penalties that can result in the loss of computer access privileges or suspension and expulsion from the College.
Unacceptable Uses
The use of internet resources should comply with ethical and legal standards. The following will be considered as unacceptable uses for the internet/network:
- Purposes and content which violate any federal or state law or college policy.
- Illegal purposes to include, but not limited to, harrassing, threatening, stalking, pornographic, destructive or obscene materials.
- Manners that disrupt normal network use and service. Such disruption would include, but it not limited to, the propagation of computer viruses, the violation of personal privacy, the unauthorized access to protected and private network resources, and the altering of system software and hardware configuration.
- Commercial activities including, but not limited to, commercial solicitation for business.
- Use for private or personal business is prohibited.
- Copyright infringement.
The user must be aware that information retrieved from the internet may not have been verified, validated, or authenticated by a properly credentialed source to assure its accuracy. Information accessed on the internet or other computer software available is to be used in a professional and responsible manner. Southern Union State Community College is not responsible for information which is considered offensive in nature or is misused by the user.