8.1.5 Web Sites

Policy Tracking	Date
Approved
Revised	September 5, 2018
Reviewed

Blue Ridge Community College Official Web Site: The College’s official external Web site is referred to as the “Blue Ridge Community College Web Site.” The College also maintains an internal Web site referred to as the Blue Ridge Community College Intranet and titled The Insider. Web content contained in College Web sites is administered by the Marketing and Communications Department in conjunction technical support provided by the Information Technology Department. The Blue Ridge Community College Web Site is considered an official publication of the College. The Blue Ridge Community College Intranet is considered an internal resource and newsletter designated for employees only.
Blue Ridge Community College Web Site and Webmaster: Both the official Blue Ridge Community College Web site (public) and the Blue Ridge Community College Intranet (employees only) are maintained by the Marketing and Communications Department with administrative support from Department of Information Technology. The Blue Ridge Community College Webmaster is the custodian of all official Blue Ridge Community College web pages contained on these Web sites. The Webmaster may assign rights and privileges for faculty and staff to have access to pages for either site and may delegate the ability to create or update web material to other employees of the College referred to as “administrators.” The Webmaster is not responsible for reviewing and approving content of all material posted to Blue Ridge Community College Web sites, however, the Webmaster may remove or modify any material that is:
1. Not in compliance with technical standards
2. Erroneous, misleading, or illegal
3. Consuming an inordinate amount of web resources (file size)
4. In clear violation of copyright laws
  
  The Webmaster may also remove the Blue Ridge Community College logo from any document which is not an official College publication.
Departmental Web Pages: Divisional web pages are part of the official Blue Ridge Community College Web site and include two general categories: (1) those whose content is the sole responsibility of a single department or division, and (2) those that have multiple authors. In either case, divisional web pages must be hosted on College servers. Each respective division or department is responsible for providing up-to-date content for official web pages and may elect to develop their own pages. Content must be consistent with the mission of the College and must conform to the standards for departmental web pages defined and illustrated in the Handbook. The creation of new web pages must be approved by the supervising Vice President. Where possible, each web page should show at the bottom of the page the name and e-mail address of the person who is responsible for the content.
Personal Web Pages for Faculty, Staff, and Students: A personal web page is a site hosted by or linked to the Blue Ridge Community College web or Intranet that contains personal information regarding an employee or student such as position duties, educational background, personal interests, photographs, contact information, etc. Any full-time Blue Ridge Community College employee may post a personal web page; however, the employee’s supervisor is responsible for approving its content as well as the content of any external Web site that is linked to a personal web page. The following conditions shall apply:
1. Personal web pages shall conform to Blue Ridge Community College style and content guidelines defined in the Handbook, as well as current copyright laws and applicable local, state, and federal laws. Web page creators using copyrighted material must obtain written permission from the copyright holder.
2. Personal web page material should be informative and in concert with the mission of the College and not reflect detrimentally upon the College.
3. Personal web pages may not be used for commercial gain or private profit.
4. Personal web pages shall not include fraudulent, false, misleading, or obscene material; libel or defame any person or entity; nor may a personal web page contain an active link or reference to a web page that contains any similar material.
5. All such personal web pages must include the following disclaimer:
  
  “The material located on this site is not sponsored or endorsed by Blue Ridge Community College."
Use of Instant Messaging: [This section reserved]
Employee’s Use of Private Webpages and Social Media Sites Not Affiliated with the College
1. When creating or posting material to a webpage or other Internet site apart from the College's website or approved ancillary external site or page (i.e., social media site), employees should remember that the content may be viewed by anyone including community members, students and parents.
2. Employees are to maintain appropriate relationships at all times with students and members of the public. Having a public personal website or online social media profile or allowing access to a private website or private social media profile is considered a form of direct communication with students and members of the public. Any employee found to have created and/or posted content on a website or profile that has a negative impact on the employee's ability to perform his/her job as it relates to working with students and the community or that otherwise disrupts the efficient and effective operation of the College may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.