Administrative Policies

I. Web Advisory Council

The design and content of active public Internet pages accessible via the uca.edu domain are subject to review and approval by the Associate Vice President for Communication.

Every UCA college, academic department and administrative office with an active public Internet or page (or pages) accessible via a uca.edu domain must review that page (or pages) before the beginning of each semester or summer session to ensure the information is accurate and up-to-date.

Every college dean, academic department chair and administrative office head is responsible for certifying each review, which may be conducted by a staff member or committee appointed for that purpose.

Every college dean, academic department chair and administrative office head is also responsible for appointing a trained staff member to make the corrections and/or updates recommended as a result of each review.

Failure to follow this policy may result in the suspension or removal of the offending Internet page(s).

II. Web Page Levels of Content and Responsibility

Web pages are classified as university, departmental, and individual pages.

1. University Web pages contain official university information and are in direct support of the university’s mission. Examples include but are not limited to the viewbook, catalog, faculty/student handbook, university directory and information about the campus, financial aid, admissions and institutional advancement.

All information not found in university Web pages is unofficial information and cannot be claimed as official university policy.

2. Departmental Web pages include information encouraged by the university but maintained by individual university departments. All departmental Web pages are in direct support of the university’s mission. Examples include but are not limited to academic departments, student services, campus events, athletics, administration, and other informational resources. These pages are maintained by Information Content Providers (ICP) in each department with technical services support as needed. Information on these pages is the responsibility of the department head/chair and their ICP. Departments are encouraged to conform to applicable university Web design standards.


3. Individual Web pages are pages sponsored and maintained by members of the university faculty, staff and students. Information on these pages is the responsibility of the individual. Individuals are encouraged to conform to applicable university Web design standards. Information on individual Web pages is solely generated and maintained by the author. Individual Web pages are the creative, intellectual, and personal property of the individual author. Individuals must maintain backup files. The university is not responsible for any corrupted, lost, or otherwise damaged files. The university may remove Web pages if the individuals are no longer affiliated with the university.

III. Use of University Web Pages

University and departmental Web pages must be informative and consistent with the mission of the University of Central Arkansas. University policies and regulations must be adhered to. The university Web servers may not be used for any activity prohibited by law.

Any person or group authoring Web pages must be aware of and follow university policies regarding confidentiality, harassment and computer usage. University ICPs cannot use copyrighted images, text, or software without permission.

University and departmental pages are intended to communicate information about the university and must not represent the personal views of an individual. Appropriate material for inclusion in these pages includes:

• policy documents, reports, procedures;
• course descriptions, schedules and syllabi;
• instructional materials;
• tutorials;
• computing and library guides;
• campus calendars and announcements of events;
• descriptions of available services and resources.

Individual pages must conform to university policies contained in this document. Use of individual pages for illegal and/or commercial purposes is prohibited. Individuals are expected to comply with relevant university policies, state and federal law, and any relevant licensing agreements.

Material may not be included on university, departmental and individual Web pages if it:

• is in violation of federal and state law;
• is derogatory or libelous to groups or individuals;
• is of a confidential nature;
• infringes upon the rights of another person;
• is abusive, profane, or sexually offensive;
• includes information which may injure someone else and/or lead to a lawsuit or criminal charges including pirated software, destructive software, pornographic materials, libelous statements or terrorist restrictions;
• includes advertisements for commercial products, enterprises or services not pertaining to the University of Central Arkansas

IV. Links from Web Pages

The university reserves the right to disable and/or remove the Web page links as well as publishing capability and privileges on university-managed servers of anyone who uses the Internet to violate university policy or to conduct or promote activities which are illegal or violate university obligations. These links and publishing privileges may be re-established following a review process.

1. University Official Pages

   The University of Central Arkansas has only one official university Home Page, with links to official university Web pages.

2. Departmental Web Pages

   Each department has only one departmental Home Page, with links to other departmental Web pages.

   Links from the departmental Home Page and departmental Web pages are the responsibility of the department chairperson and/or the departmental ICP. The top of each departmental Home Page must have a link to the departmental disclaimer. The bottom of each Departmental Home Page must contain a link to the University’s Official Home Page and a mail-to address link. The bottom of all other departmental Web pages must contain the following three links: (1) to the Departmental Page Disclaimer, (2) to the Departmental Home Page, and (3) a mail-to address.

3. Individual Faculty and Staff Web Pages

   Departments wishing to include individual faculty and staff Web pages must include a directory with the individual page disclaimer for individuals’ home pages.

   The top of the individual’s home page must contain the Individual Page Disclaimer in full text. The bottom of the individual’s home page must contain a link to the department’s home page, or the university’s official home page if a departmental home page does not exist, and a mail-to address link. The bottom of all other individual Web pages must contain the following three links: (1) to the individual page disclaimer, (2) to the individual home page, and (3) a mail-to address. A directory of individual faculty and staff home pages will be maintained within the official university Web pages. This directory has the University Web disclaimer at the top.

4. Student Organization and Individual Student Web Pages

   A separate server will be maintained for editing and publishing of home pages of individual students and student organizations.

   A directory of student organizations and student Webpages will be made available. This page will contain the individual disclaimer at the top and all subsequent pages will also contain the individual disclaimer.

V. University Disclaimers

All disclaimers and links to disclaimers must be readable by a text-only browser.

1. Official university Web pages do not require a disclaimer. Official university Web pages will contain a logo or other marking to indicate their official status.


2. The alphabetical listing of departmental pages (A-Z index) will have the following Departmental Page Disclaimer at the top:

It is the policy of the university to abide by and follow federal and state laws. Although individual departments provide the information found on these pages, the university reserves the right to ensure that such information is consistent with its stated mission.

3. All alphabetical directories of Individual Web pages have a disclaimer at the top stating the following Individual Page Disclaimer:

It is the policy of university to abide by and follow federal and state laws. The personal pages of UCA’s students, faculty and staff represent individual views and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or policies of the university. The university is not responsible for the content of these pages or any links that you may follow from this server beyond this point.

VI. Department and Individual Web Servers

The University of Central Arkansas maintains the university’s Official Home Page on a specified server. All official university information is maintained on this server. The content is indexed and searchable.

Departmental, faculty and staff information is also maintained on the official server. However, departments and individuals may elect to run Web servers on other computers instead. In this case, the departmental ICP or other specified individual may request that a link be established from the official server to a remote, on-campus server.

To qualify for such a link, all applicable content and design standards must be followed.  Also, the server must be up and running 24 hours a day. It must have a permanent IP address assigned to it. In addition, backups must be maintained by the individual or by the department so that service can be restored if necessary. Links from the official server are subject to removal if the department or individual server is unstable, out of service or not in compliance with university policy. Links from the official server will not be established to student Web pages on servers located off campus.

Web services on all remote, on-campus servers must adhere to all applicable content and design standards as specified in this document. Appropriate disclaimers must also be included. The university reserves the right to remove remote, on-campus services which do not comply with these standards regardless of whether links have been established from the official server.
Web content of remote, on-campus servers is not included in the search engine found on the official home page. Web pages on these machines, however, may of course be indexed by search engines on the Internet.

DEFINITIONS

Home page
Initial, entry, identifying page of a collection of pages for the university, individual departments, or individuals.

Internet Content Provider
An individual selected to be responsible for authoring Web pages for a university department, program or organization.

Official server
The server maintained by the university which contains the official University information.

On-campus, remote servers
All Web servers on campus, other than the official server

System Administrator
Computing Services person who is responsible for the technical management of the university network.

Departmental Page Disclaimer
The standard disclaimer statement that must appear at the top of each university departmental home page.

University Individual Disclaimer
The standard disclaimer statement that must appear at the top of each individual home page.

Web Pages
Pages developed by university students, staff, and faculty and linked directly or indirectly to a home page.

Comments and suggestions about Administrative Policies are appreciated.
Administrative Policy contents comments to: Susan Lilly, SusanL@uca.edu