1.05—University Web Policy | University Policy Office

Effective: 10/07/2007
Last updated: 09/10/2018
Senate Proposal: No
Responsible University Officer: Director of Digital Services
Responsible Office: University Marketing and Communications

Policy Statement

All web pages hosted on the Michigan Tech network or hosted off-site but maintained for any University activity or function, must comply with University Web Policy requirements, and all federal, state, and local laws.

Policy Requirements

There are nine categories of University web pages covered in this policy:

Michigan Tech Home Page
Academic Course Information
Academic Departments
Administrative Departments
Conferences / Special Purpose
Faculty / Staff
Research Center / Institute
Research Initiative, Group, or Unit
Student Groups and Organizations

The category of a web page dictates the components that must be on it or the criteria it must follow. Refer to Appendix A: University Web Pages: Component and Criteria Requirements by Category for a list of components and criteria. If these requirements are not followed, noncompliant web pages may be unlinked from the University homesite until modifications are made to bring the pages into compliance.

Privacy and Security

Web pages that collect private information must display a link to a Privacy Statement for that application. The Privacy Statement must give the intended use of any collected data such as names, addresses, or email addresses. It is the University’s intention to protect private information from misuse.

Any Michigan Tech web-based tool that requires or requests private information must be implemented in a secure way. Such data must be protected in transit by means of a secure web connection.

Advertising and Endorsement

Official Michigan Tech web pages must not link commercial sites that advertise and/or sell products or services. Such links may be construed by visitors to Michigan Tech’s website as endorsement of those products or services. Michigan Tech web pages may not accept sponsorship from commercial entities in exchange for advertising and/or links to commercial sites.

Reason for Policy

Michigan Tech's web pages provide a view of Michigan Tech to the world. The web pages present our programs and activities to current and future students and their parents, to sports fans and alumni, and to other academic institutions and researchers around the world. The University encourages and supports the fullest, most accurate presentation of Michigan Tech for all activities related to academic, administrative, and marketing purposes.

Related Policy Information

All links on official Michigan Tech web pages are subject to a systematic annual review by the Director of Digital Services.

Web pages that do not comply with the University Web Policy may be unlinked from the University homesite until modifications are made to bring the noncompliant pages into compliance. The director of Digital Services has the authority to take this action. A University department may authorize their system administrator to unlink or remove noncompliant pages.

The director of Digital Services, departmental web developer, and department head/director are encouraged to work together to resolve noncompliance issues. Most problems can be resolved in this way. If noncompliance issues cannot be resolved, follow the Web Policy Arbitration procedure. If an arbitration goes to the Web Policy Subcommittee or an arbitration panel, their findings are final.

Exclusions

Student personal web pages hosted on the Residence Hall network (Resnet) are exempt from this policy, since they are not "official" university web pages. However, they are subject to all policies in the "Michigan Tech Student Handbook."

If a commercial link supports the University's purposes, or a University project, and/or provides an essential service to the University community, specific exceptions may be granted by the director of Digital Services.

Contacts

Office/Unit Name	Telephone Number
Director, Digital Services	906-487-3635
Director, University Marketing and Communications	906-487-2354
Vice President for Student Affairs and Advancement	906-487-2465
Computer Security (secure web connection)	906-487-1727

Definitions

Academic Course Information Pages — Web pages that instructors use to provide students with information as a supplement to other class materials.

Department — Any administrative, academic, or research unit at Michigan Tech.

Department Home Page — Main page for a Michigan Tech department.

Department Resource Page — A link from the department home page that includes news, research groups and centers, information, academic programs, outreach, projects, facilities, events, and societies.

Faculty and Staff Web Pages — Web pages introducing Michigan Tech employees, whether maintained by the employee's department or by the employee, which typically include office location, title and description of research, or other roles at Michigan Tech.

Michigan Tech Network — Delineated as all hosts in the 141.219.0.0/16 network.

Michigan Tech Home Page — www.mtu.edu/

Michigan Tech Homesite — All web pages hosted on the Michigan Tech network or hosted off-site but maintained for any University activity or function.

Official University Web Page — A Web page hosted on the Michigan Tech network or hosted off-site but maintained for any University activity or function.

Private Information — Michigan Tech ID numbers, passwords, credit card numbers, and pin numbers (such as student or alumni pin registration numbers).

Registered Student Organizations — Official student organizations maintaining current registration with the Student Affairs Office.

Research Initiative, Group, or Unit Home Page — Main web page for any Michigan Tech research initiative, research group, or research unit.

Special Purpose Web Pages — Any official web pages not otherwise defined. Examples are pages for professional societies and event pages.

Student Organization Pages — Web pages for registered student organizations.

Student Personal Web Pages — Personal web pages of current Michigan Tech students, also called "unofficial web pages" because the pages are not maintained by the student's department.

Responsibilities

University Marketing and Communications — Creates and maintains the Michigan Tech homesite and its related web pages; maintains the University's CMS, ; maintains the "University Brand, Editorial, and Web Standards".

Director, Digital Services — Reviews new department home pages for consistency of message and readability; serves as chair of the Web Oversite Committee; appoints members to the Web Oversite Committee; serves as first point of contact for departments wishing to change their web sites and to resolve noncompliance web issues; authorizes the unlinking of noncompliant web pages from the University website during the arbitration process.

Department Heads/Directors — Mediates noncompliance web issues with their web developer and the director of Digital Services; authorizes their system administrator to unlink or remove noncompliant pages from their department website; insures that secure department web servers are used for restricted material, student grades, and student identification numbers.

Lead Researchers (who are responsible for any research initiative, group, or unit) — Ensures that all web pages in support of their research units, projects, and initiatives are compliant with University web policy.

Course Instructors — Uses secure department web pages or the central course web server (WebCT) for restricted material, student grades, and student identification numbers.

Officers of Student Organizations — Ensures that their organizations' website complies with policies in the Michigan Tech Student Handbook.

Web Oversite Committee — Helps manage and guide the University's web presence by monitoring web development strategies and providing web design resources.

Web Policy Subcommittee — Maintains the University Web Policy; serves as arbitration panel to resolve unsettled web issues between web developer and University Web Policy.

Michigan Tech Web Publishers (whether departments or individuals) — Ensures the content of their Web pages are in compliance with University Web Policy.

Procedures

In support of this policy, the following procedures are included:

Appendices

Additional Information

References

Trademark logos
Logo download page
University Style Manual
Privacy Statement
Custom department banners
University Marketing and Communications Web Resources
Canvas
Student organizations
Web Accessibility Standards
Equal Opportunity Compliance & Title IX
J. R. Van Pelt Library, copyright services

Adoption Date

11/09/2004

Approved by vice provost for student affairs

Revisions

9/10/2018	Removed "University Staff Handbook" from "Additional Resources" section.
5/15/2018	Removed broken link to "Consulted/Researched 1.05.1.1 - Consulted/Researched for University Web Policy"
4/4/2018	Policy Review—In order to update the policy to current practice, changed the following: Changed “Responsible University Officer” from “Vice President for Advancement” to “Director of Digital Services” Changed “ten” to “nine” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Department Home Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Department Resource Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Faculty and Staff Web Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Student Personal Web Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Guest Web Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Special Purpose Web Pages” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Home Page” from “Research Initiative, Group, or Unit Home Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Removed “Page” from “Academic Course Information Page” in the “Policy Requirements” section Changed “Student Organization Web Page” to “Student Groups and Organizations” in the “Policy Requirements” section Added “Conferences / Special Purpose” in the “Policy Requirements” section Added “Faculty / Staff” in the “Policy Requirements” section Added “Research Center / Institute” in the “Policy Requirements” section Changed “New Media” to “Digital Services” throughout policy Updated contacts Removed “Guest — Any non-Michigan Tech organization or any person who is not a current student or employee, using Michigan Tech’s network resources. Guest Web Page — Any web page maintained by a guest.” from the Definitions section Updated the URLs in the policy Removed the “University Web Policy Arbitration Request” form and the “Forms” section Removed “WebCT” from “CanvasWebCT” Removed “Residence Life Network” and “Web Oversite Committee Members” from the “References” section
04/10/2017	Transfer of policy page from HTML to CMS. General Policy numbers renamed from "2.1000" to "1.00 General University". Specifically from "2.1005—University Web Policy" to "1.05—University Web Policy".
03/05/2013	Affirmative Action is now Institutional Equity Office.
03/28/2012	The email address for questions is now hbwebmaster.
10/07/2007	Editorial changes (i.e. changed the department name from University Communications to University Marketing and Communications, MTU to Michigan Tech, and changed titles).