Acceptable Use of Information Technology Policy

• Table of Contents
• 100.00 Introduction
• 200.00 Policy
• 300.00 Procedures
• 400.00 References
• 500.00 Definitions

100.00 Introduction

The University must exercise due diligence in ensuring compliance with existing laws and policies governing information technology or governing activities that are not specific to information technology but may occur during and through the use of information technology.

200.00 Policy

200.10 Board of Regents policies governing the use of university information technology apply to all University faculty, staff, students, and patrons. All users of University information technology must comply with MSU Enterprise policies as well as Board of Regents policies, state and federal law. References to associated policies and laws are provided in section 400.00.

200.20 All users of University information technology including students, faculty, staff, and patrons must comply with all existing applicable laws and policies governing the use of information technology, including but not limited to:

1. Federal law
2. State and local laws and policies
3. Board of Regent policies
4. University policies
5. Campus procedures and standards
6. Student Codes of Conduct

200.30 Any activity prohibited by law or policy, such as discrimination, sexual harassment, or retaliation, also applies to the use of information technology and is likewise prohibited. All University users must comply with existing laws and policies as they use University information technology regardless of whether the laws or policies specifically reference or govern information technology.

200.40 Failure to comply with existing laws and policies may result in loss of access and user privileges as well as University disciplinary actions under appropriate employee or student regulations. Civil or criminal charges and penalties may also apply.

200.50 Alleged violations should be reported to University authorities such as the Chief Information Officer, Dean of Students, Vice President of Research, Campus police, or legal counsel as described in campus-specific guidelines and procedures.

200.60 Per BOR Policy 1901.1 employees who are sued by a copyright owner or licenser are subject to the indemnification policy defined in BOR 804.4.

300.00 Procedures

Individual campuses maintain campus-specific standards and procedures that implement this policy. Campus-specific standards and procedures are currently under development; when published, the links to those pages will be provided here. Constituents will be required to comply with any standards and procedures developed for their campus:

• MSU-Billings
• MSU-Bozeman*
• Great Falls College MSU
• MSU-Northern

* MSU agencies follow MSU-Bozeman campus procedures

400.00 References

Report broken links to [email protected].

• US Privacy Act: Refer to About.com’s website providing government information, available at http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa121299a.htm.
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): Refer to the US Department of Education’s web site on FERPA guidelines, available at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html.
• Montana SummitNet intra-state network policy: Refer to the Montana Statewide Information Systems SummitNet Acceptable Use Policy, available at http://www.itsd.mt.gov/content/policy/policies/legacy_policy/statewide_policy_summitnet_Acceptable_use.pdf.
• Board of Regents policy 804.4 Personal Indemnification, available at http://www.mus.edu/borpol/bor800/8044.htm.
• Board of Regents policy 1300 Information Technology, available at http://www.mus.edu/borpol/bor1300/bor1300.asp.
• Board of Regents Policy 1306 Logging On and Off Computer Resources, available at http://www.mus.edu/borpol/bor1300/1306.htm.
• Board of Regents policy 1901.1 Unauthorized Copying and Use of Software, available at http://www.mus.edu/borpol/bor1900/1901-1.pdf.
• Student codes of conduct, available at:
• Billings: http://www.msubillings.edu/VCSA/PDF/Studenthandbook.pdf
• Bozeman: /policy/student_conduct/
• Great Falls: http://www.msugf.edu/about/PoliciesProcedures/300/309_2_Student_Conduct_Complaint_Process.pdf
• Northern: http://www.msun.edu/stuaffairs/asstdeanstus/studentconduct.htm

500.00 Definitions

“Constituent” refers to any individual or group associated with the University including students, staff, faculty, or patrons as well as any contractors, regents, committees, councils, groups, agencies, departments, entities, campus, or community.

“Enterprise” refers to all Universities, colleges, and agencies of Montana State University.

“Enterprise Chief Information Officer” refers to the top level information technology leadership role based on the Bozeman campus whose responsibilities include information technology leadership of the four MSU campuses.

“Information Technology” or “IT” refers to any resource related to the access and use of digitized information, including but not limited to hardware, software, devices, appliances, network bandwidth and resources.

“Internet Service Provider (ISP)” refers to a business or organization that provides connectivity from the University or campus to the Internet.

“University” refers to any and all campuses, agencies, departments, or entities within the Montana State University enterprise.

“Users” refers to any individual student, staff, faculty, or patron as well as any group, agency, department, entity, or campus who obtains, uses, or relies on IT services or resources of the University.