(updated from Cabinet 07/05/06 and approve by IT Governance 09/11/2006)

This policy defines the acceptable use of computers and networks made available to employees and students of the College and any other person granted such access.

The College network exists to enrich the learning environment and to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of all other College operations. Usage of the network is a privilege and is limited to those functions.

Since some communications over the network involve matters of academic freedom and sensitive or protected communications, this Policy assumes the privacy of such communications.

User Responsibilities

Since College computers are to be used only for enriching the learning environment or for enhancing the operating effectiveness of the College, following are the types of uses that are prohibited:

• Displaying or transmitting material that is not educational or does not support the curriculum of a College and that could otherwise be considered sexually explicit, profane, racist, harassing, threatening or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment;
• disguising the source of electronic messages
• modifying the network in any way (includes adding access points or installing bridges, switches, hubs, or repeaters)
• running unauthorized programs or applications on the network
• gaining unauthorized access to any electronic resource
• circumventing security systems designed to prevent unauthorized access
• accessing, downloading, or storing of copyrighted software or information which is not licensed
• transmitting any material in violation of United States or New York State regulations
• using computing resources for commercial or profit-making activities
• accessing or attempting to access any electronic resource for which the user does not have authorization
• disrupting another user’s work or system
• broadcasting messages or any other activity that results in the congestion of the network.
• distribution and/or sharing of user accounts and passwords

College Responsibilities

The College is responsible for the design, maintenance and good working order of the network and for providing ongoing user training on the appropriate uses of the network. The College is also responsible for investigating any suspected abuse of this Policy. Such investigation may include remote monitoring of on-line activities and inspection of user’s computer work areas. If an abuse becomes apparent, the College may invoke stricter supervision, limit or revoke the user’s privileges, or take other appropriate action.

Effective Aug. 30, 2010, SUNY Orange will use e-mail as the official means of communicating academic and administrative information to students.  Most announcements will come to a student’s email in-box in the form of the "Student Grapevine".

Assignment of E-mail Address

SUNY Orange assigns an email address (@sunyorange.edu) to each registered student. This College issued email account will be designated as the student’s official email address when administrative and academic departments need to communicate with students.

College Responsibility

The College is responsible for communicating with students in a timely and accurate way about changes in policies, procedures and deadlines that affect them. The College will select the most appropriate method (mail, telephone, email) to convey pertinent information to specific groups of students. In some cases, email may be used exclusively. Routine announcements, administrative and academic dates and deadlines, and information of a general nature will typically only be sent by e-mail.

Student Responsibility

Students are responsible for receiving, reading, responding to and complying with official email communications sent by the College. Because information may be time-sensitive, students are encouraged to check their email regularly (daily, several times weekly) throughout the semester.

Students who opt to redirect their @sunyorange.edu email account to another personal email account do so at their own risk. The College is not responsible for e-mail that is not delivered to a forwarded address or for spam filters that may block e-mail messages. The student’s failure to receive or read e-mail communications does not constitute an excuse for missing College communications or meeting College deadlines.

SUNYOrange Student Grapevine

College information to students will be communicated twice weekly through the e-newsletter, the "Student Grapevine". The Student Grapevine, which will include announcements, schedules of events, and notifications of College deadlines, will replace most mailings, flyers and postcards that are currently distributed to students. An online version of the Student Grapevine will be posted to the College’s web site.

SUNY Orange uses the Everbridge Alert System as its emergency communications system.

The College automatically uploads student and employee @sunyorange.edu email addresses. If wish to enter additional emergency contact information into the database (SMS text, phone, additional emails, etc.), you must use the Everbridge Emergency Alert Form (you may be asked to sign into MySUNYOrange before reaching this link).

More details can be found in our KB article
Emergency Alert Notifications: Everbridge NY Alert

SUNY Orange applications and services require regular maintenance for enhancements, upgrades, or to enable us to execute specific business processes.  The regular maintenance window allows the college community to plan for potential disruption.  Outside of emergency outages, the ITS department makes every attempt to minimize system changes during key periods of the academic calendar.  Depending on the task(s) to be completed, any of the SUNY Orange systems may be unavailable or experience some interruption.

Maintenance Window Schedule

     Thursdays from 2am to 7am
     Sundays from 7am to 2pm

Emergency Maintenance: Occasionally it may be necessary to perform unscheduled or unplanned maintenance to resolve a specific issue or vulnerability.  Depending on the type and severity of the unscheduled maintenance, a special notice will be communicated through the available channels.
Emergency maintenance can occur at any time.

Details of any emergency system wide outage can be found on the ITS System Status webpage.

Many computer classrooms and computer laboratories on campus are used for instructional purposes.  As such, faculty may have the need to request that particular software is installed in a lab for teaching purposes. 

1. The following deadlines will be enforced for each semester. This is to ensure ample opportunity to secure time in the room to install, test, and configure the software.  If the software is provided by these dates, ITS will be able to make certain that the software will be available to you and your students on the first day of class. 

     Semester Deadlines

• Fall Semester - Request by August 1
• Spring Semester – Request by December 1
• Summer Sessions – Request by May 1 

2. We will do our best to accommodate your request, however if you do not meet the specified deadlines, we cannot guarantee software availability by the start of the semester
3. Software requests should be made through the following link: https://portal.sunyorange.edu/web/home-community/technical-services
4. Requested software must be purchased and approved through Information Technical Services (ITS).
5. Please list the computer classrooms and computers labs in which the software should be installed.
6. If the particular software is downloadable and you have the link, please provide it in your request.
7. Software must be compatible with the computers and existing software. The software must also have manufacturer’s support. Technicians from ITS can assist you in determining whether the software is compatible with our lab environment.
8. The software purchase must include enough licenses for all computers in the particular classroom or lab in which the software should be installed. Written documentation must be provided to verify software licenses.  The College strictly adheres to all applicable copyright laws.
9. Trial software may be reviewed but will not be deployed to any room until purchased and ITS has completed the approval process.
10. Free (Zero-cost) software must also be requested through ITS.
11. Outdated software, DOS based applications, will not be approved for installation.
12. Only one version of a software package will be installed on a single computer. Multiple versions of the same software application may cause conflicts.