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“Honesty, trust, respect, fairness, responsibility, and the free exchange of ideas form the foundation of integrity that supports the entire community at The College of Saint Rose.”

–From The College of Saint Rose Statement on Integrity.

The College of Saint Rose is proud of its history, its mission, and what it represents to its communities. The mission of the College encourages that students from a diverse range of backgrounds are allowed the opportunity to contribute to a “diverse learning community that fosters integrity, interdependence, and mutual respect.”

The College recognizes that social media sites have become important and influential communication channels for our community. The overall goal of this policy is to help clarify how best to enhance and protect the personal and professional reputations of our students, faculty and staff when participating in social media while also providing guidance for third parties (to include without limitation, prospective students at the College). It is important to keep in mind the privacy concerns inherent in using social media websites. Any information posted on them can be made public, even when information has been deleted by the user in some cases. Information can be shared with many people with just a click of the mouse. Therefore, the College expects and encourages all those participating on the sites associated with the College to exercise caution and responsibility when using social media sites.

In accordance with The College of Saint Rose mission, Statement on Integrity, Acceptable Use Policy, Student Handbook, and any applicable hosting web sites’ terms of use agreements, all users must adhere to the general rights and practices of social media.

The policies and guidelines set forth below apply to any user who utilizes social media pages associated with the College, College departments, College programs and/or College offices. This policy pertains only to postings and comments made on official Saint Rose social media pages such as the ones the College maintains on Facebook and YouTube and our Twitter feed.

TYPES
The social media applicable under this policy include, but are not limited to, the following: Facebook.com, Twitter.com, YouTube.com, MySpace.com, Blogger.com, Typepad.com, WordPress.org, WordPress.com, LinkedIn.com, imodules.com, Flikr.com, Foursquare.com, Gowalla.com, Scvngr.com, Tumblr.com.

LANGUAGE/BEHAVIOR
The following are considered unacceptable when using social media websites:

  • Vulgar or profane language.
  • Obscene, defamatory, inaccurate, or hostile posts.
  • Offensive terms/phrases, or photographs that disrespect individuals or groups based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of person.
  • Threats of physical or bodily harm.
  • Posting of sensitive information; including that which could compromise public safety, intellectual property, etc.
  • Posting of photographs of oneself or others that can be reasonably interpreted as condoning the irresponsible use of alcohol, substance abuse, or sexual promiscuity.

The following are required:

Be respectful. The College of Saint Rose is open to others voicing their opinions and contributing to relevant discussion through social media platforms. Users may complain or disagree with other posts. However, the nature of such content should at all times remain respectful. Any inappropriate, obscene, or defamatory posts will not be tolerated. Users who abuse this policy will be blocked.

Be relevant. We ask that posts remain relevant to The College of Saint Rose and its community (students, faculty, staff, alumni). Spam and other outside promotions will be removed. Members of The College of Saint Rose community may, and are encouraged to, promote information about campus activities or accomplishments. We ask that such posts be posted on the most relevant official social media page of The College of Saint Rose.

Be aware of liability.  Individuals are legally liable for their posts on their own sites and the sites of others. Bloggers have been held liable for their comments deemed to be proprietary, copyrighted, defamatory, libelous or obscene.

Adherence to Social Media Website Policy
Social media websites that the College utilizes to establish its own pages or blog sites also have their own terms and conditions and policies. All employees and students of the College who utilize such sites must adhere to these policies if they choose to use social media. Neglecting to follow the policies may lead to removal of these accounts by the site host.

User Policy
We look forward to the comments and conversations generated via social media. We welcome and are open to honest and accurate statements and opinions. Any posts found to be inaccurate, false, inappropriate, hostile, obscene, or defamatory toward any individual, group or organization will be removed. Repeat offenders will be blocked. If members of the College community violate other College policies on the College’s social media sites it may subject them to disciplinary action under appropriate judicial or other procedures.

Posts from any users, including students and employees, are not to be considered an endorsement and do not necessarily reflect the mission, values and policies of The College of Saint Rose. Posts and/or comments must come from real user accounts and when needed, provide a valid e-mail address at which the user can be contacted.

Users who choose to post, comment, or link text and/or multimedia on The College of Saint Rose web sites agree that such material may be reproduced, distributed, edited, and published in any form and on any media. Users agree not to violate copyright laws, post spam or advertisements, impersonate others, or partake in any type of hostile behavior, in any media.

The establishment of this policy does not create rights in third parties or private causes of action against the College of Saint Rose for violations by others or enforcement inaction on the part of the College.

All content generated on The College of Saint Rose social media sites is public; therefore, we ask that you consider your own privacy at all times before posting and/or commenting. Those with concerns or complaints with respect to any College page on a social media site should contact the College’s E-media Coordinator, Kayla Germain, at PR@strose.edu.

Nothing in this policy is intended to or will be applied in a manner that limits employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity as prescribed by the National Labor Relations Act.

The College of Saint Rose thanks users for their cooperation and welcomes future conversations.