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Spotlights

World Wide Web Publishing Policy

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to set forth the rules for publishing pages on Western Michigan University Web servers.

Scope

Students, faculty, and staff are responsible for the content of the documents they publish and the backing up or archival of their own pages and files. They are also required to abide by all University policies regarding appropriate use of information and computing resources.

Policy Statement(s)

• Information, graphics, and other materials are covered by and subject to all current copyright laws. If permission to display text, graphics, sound, video, etc. that are owned by someone else has not been granted, do not publish it.
• Documents must be consistent with the statement on Ethical Treatment of Information Resources
• Users of WMU's network are subject to the relevant policies such as MichNet , the WMU Student Code, the Collective Bargaining agreement between the Western Michigan University chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University, employee handbooks, and the WMU Rules for Use of Computing Resources where applicable.
• If information about the University (e.g., total enrollment, number of faculty, etc) is to be used, please confirm its accuracy. For assistance, please contact the Office of Student Academic and Institutional Research .
• Documents using the University signature and/or the University seal must comply with the University publication guidelines. Additional information is available from the Office of University Relations.
• Information representing a point of view differing from an established University policy or position must include a standard disclaimer.
• To hold the copyright for information published on the Web, include: "Copyright (c)"; the year; and a name, department, or office.
• All information must be free of inflammatory, derogatory, or offensive text, images, or sounds that exceed the bounds of academic freedom of faculty. Flaming behavior, as often seen in newsgroups, could be interpreted as libel.
• Pornographic material is strictly prohibited.
• Every effort should be made to keep documents free of typographical and grammatical errors.
• Use of this account for commercial and/or personal gain is prohibited.
• A phone number and/or email address of the student, faculty, or staff member is to be included on the home page.
• Personal Web pages will be deleted upon Bronco NetID expiration, typically one year after a person graduates, or otherwise leaves Western Michigan University. Content will not be archived and it is the responsibility of the site owner to back up their content if they wish to keep it, before the grace period ends.

Justification

The WMU community has access to a variety of Web publishing options including personal and/or professional Web pages, course content pages, and departmental Web sites. Information on WMU's Web site can be read worldwide. The quality, accuracy, and legality of this information are of the utmost concern to the University. The distributed and open nature of the Web renders traditional means of control impractical and transfers much of the responsibility to the individual.

Enforcement

Western Michigan University will not routinely monitor Web page content but we reserve the right to both monitor content and remove pages if they are in violation of these rules or relevant WMU policies. In addition, any person found to be in violation of this policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action as defined by current University policy.

Revised: 6/2008