POLICY ON WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES
AND OTHER ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS
AT
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
Purpose
The quality of information published by Mississippi State University plays an important role in maintaining the strong reputation and image of the university. This policy sets minimal standards that are meant to ensure that information published electronically follows the same high standards as other forms of published information.
Policy
Mississippi State University recognizes the value of publishing on the Internet, and so allows and encourages faculty, staff, and students to do so.
The university "home page" or top-level web page is http://www.msstate.edu/. The Office of University Relations is responsible for maintaining the home page, other menu pages containing links to campus units, and general information about the university.
Mississippi State University resources may not be used to create web pages for personal business or personal financial gain.
This policy recognizes two classes of web page: official and non-official.
Official Mississippi State University documents on the World Wide Web are official communication and are electronic publications. Electronic publications are subject to the same policies and standards as print publications.
Official Mississippi State University pages are those publicly accessible electronic documents which represent the university, colleges, departments, offices, services, other units, and governance-related organizations such as the Student Association, Faculty Senate, and Professional and Support Staff Advisory Council. They must comply with all laws and university policies and standards regarding nondiscrimination, libel and copyright, accessibility to the disabled, offensive material, visual identity, etc.
All official pages will include Mississippi State University’s official, trademarked logo as defined in the Visual Identity Standard, the date of last revision, the name and e-mail or form-based link to the person responsible for maintaining the information on the page, and a link to the Mississippi State "home page" at http://www.msstate.edu/.
Official pages must be constructed in such a manner as to enable persons with disabilities to obtain essential information on the page and use the navigation features.
Non-official pages are those pages stored on university computers or using an address in the university's Internet domain (msstate.edu) which are created by and represent an individual or registered student, staff or faculty organization, with the exception of governance-related organizations such as the Student Association, Faculty Senate, and Professional and Support Staff Advisory Council. Non-official pages are permitted but must not appear to be official pages and must follow all laws and university policies. The following statement must appear on the top page of non-official sites: "The views and opinions expressed on this and following pages are strictly those of the page author or organization. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Mississippi State University."
Unit heads may choose to authorize links to non-official pages from official university pages.
Individuals may use the official symbols of the University on non-official pages to identify the author as a student, alumnus, or employee of Mississippi State University; however, university symbols may not be used in such a way as to suggest that non-official pages are, in fact, official university pages, nor may university symbols be used in such a way as to imply sponsorship or endorsement by the university. The university reserves the right to take action against any use that does not conform to this policy. Individuals or organizations may use a trademarked symbol of Mississippi State University as a click-on web link to the official Mississippi State home page at http://www.msstate.edu/ .
Student pages must conform to the "Policy on Student Use of Computing Resources (OP 91.117)."
Noncompliance with this policy will result in (at a minimum) unlinking of the pages from the university's top-level web pages and search features.
Noncompliant web pages should be reported to the Office of University Relations.
Review
The policy will be reviewed every four years or sooner if needed, by the Vice President for Development and Alumni, the Vice President for Student Affairs, or the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs as appropriate.
OP 01.13
09/22/06
For information about this policy, contact the
reviewing department.
