Saint Mary's College has invested much in computing resources over the last twenty years and has encouraged the College community to use these resources creatively in their work and studies. Access to the Internet, powerful central computers and an ever-increasing number of personal computers are assets in which we may take pride. Their value is increased the more we take advantage of them. Therefore, the members of the College community are encouraged to use these resources. Using these resources in a responsible manner will protect this investment.
The College encourages and supports freedom of expression and an open environment for the pursuit of scholarly inquiry. The contents of all electronic pages published using Saint Mary's College information systems must, however, comply with College policies, rules, and regulations, as well as local, state and federal laws. Responsible use of college computers and the Internet is more than adhering to a set of dos and don'ts. When using Saint Mary's College computer resources, everyone is held to the ethical standards established by principles commonly accepted as a guide to behavior in a community of scholars. The following serve only as examples of how those standards apply to specific areas of computer and network usage. They are not meant to be a comprehensive list of what may or may not be done. This policy statement does not alter any existing College policy or procedure.
Today, relatively inexpensive devices when used in conjunction with the World Wide Web permit the copying and publishing of enormous quantities of material. These materials could include original work, public domain materials, royalty-free-license-free materials, or copyrighted materials. All electronic publications of Saint Mary's College must follow established standards regarding the reproduction of copyrighted materials. When questions arise regarding the application of legal rulings and precedents to electronic publishing, the Saint Mary's College community follows these standards as formulated in the following statements of policy and guidelines regarding Copyright and "fair use" policy.
See the linked Resource Page containing resources pertaining to Copyright Legislation and Practice:
The recommendation is always to secure appropriate permission when including copyrighted or trademark material such as text, photographic images, video, or graphic illustrations, in any electronic publication.
These policies apply to all users of the College computers and network facilities, including but not limited to, Saint Mary's College students, faculty, staff, administrators and guest users such as University of Notre Dame students and family members of faculty, staff and administration.
Free access to the College computers is a privilege that may be revoked at any time for abusive conduct.
Responsible use of the college computer and network resources requires that you:
The College student computer labs and clusters are equipped with computers primarily for the academic work of our students.
Those wishing to use student computers for recreation are welcome to do so as long as other students are not disturbed, delayed or inconvenienced. Recreational computer use is not allowed at times when students with academic work are waiting.
Any student working on a class assignment or student project has priority in the College computer labs, and any student using a computer for recreational use (games, correspondence, social e-mail, etc...) is expected to relinquish their computer promptly in response to a request from a lab assistant or another student.
Students must show a valid SMC/ND/HC ID card for themselves when asked to do so by lab assistants or staff. Failure to do so may result in immediate expulsion from the labs.
Loud, disruptive, intimidating or vulgar behavior will not be tolerated in the student computer labs. Threatening, intimidating or vulgar behavior toward lab assistants or other students or failure to leave the labs when so ordered by lab assistants or staff will result in the revocation of the privilege to use the College student computer labs. The main computer labs are 24-hour quiet zones.
Students may print only one copy of a document using the laser printers. Students should make additional copies using a copier.
Food and drink are not permitted in the computer labs.
Use those computers designated for e-mail use, when they are available, instead of general-purpose lab computers.
Since most of the Lab systems are connected to the Internet it is essential for each user to recognize his/her responsibility in using these services and systems. The "Internet" is not a single network; rather, it is a group of thousands of individual networks that have chosen to allow traffic to pass among them. The traffic sent out to the Internet may actually traverse several different networks before it reaches its destination. Therefore, users involved in use of the Internet must be sensitive to loads placed on other systems and participating networks.
Each network or system has its own set of policies and procedures. Actions that are routinely allowed on one network or system may be controlled, or even forbidden, on other networks. It is the user's responsibility to abide by the policies and procedures of these other networks/systems. (These can usually be obtained from the network information center (NIC) for a network or the system administrators of specific computer systems.)
Free access to the network is a privilege that may be revoked at any time for abusive conduct.
Such conduct includes, but is not limited to:
Violators of College policies are subject to the normal disciplinary procedures of the College. Violations of College policies with respect to computing and network usage may result in the loss of computer and network access. Illegal actions are subject to prosecution by local, state or federal authorities.
If you have questions not answered by this guide about the proper use and distribution of a software product, please seek help from Saint Mary's Information Technology Help Desk (telephone number 284-4715), or from the software developer or publisher.
Saint Mary's Department of Information Technology will not provide equipment or software support for any computer on which unauthorized software is known to exist. In addition, where there are clear violations, Information Technology will report violations to the appropriate department heads or Senior Officers.
