Information passing through or stored on any Snead State Community College electronic network or communication or computer system may be seen by others for a variety of reasons. Routine administration, management, or audit functions may require information stored or transmitted via Snead State Community College computers and networks to be intercepted. Electronic transactions may be subject to inspection by Snead State Community College without notice. All users should fully understand that no guarantee can be made that information communicated over Snead State Community College electronic systems or stored on Snead State Community College systems will remain private.

Users should respect the privacy of others, including, but not limited to, abstaining from unauthorized access to e-mail, files, data, and transmissions.

All users should be aware of and comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as well as its restrictions on the use and dissemination of personal and academic information.

Administrative Policies

Computer Resource Acceptable Use Policy

These guidelines set forth standards for responsible and acceptable usage of all Snead State Community College (SSCC) computing resources. Computing resources are defined as all SSCC owned host systems, personal computers, laptops, printers, software, communications devices, peripherals and supplies. These guidelines supplement existing institutional policies as well as all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. The computing resources at Snead State Community College are intended to support the educational and administrative endeavors of faculty and staff. Access to and use of SSCC computing resources is a privilege and therefore should be treated as such. Any violation of this policy could result in privileges being suspended, an official reprimand, expulsion, dismissal, and/or criminal prosecution if laws have been broken. The following activities are prohibited on all SSCC computing resources:

• Altering system software or hardware configurations without authorization of the SSCC IT department.
• Accessing via the internet or any other means of pornographic, obscene or questionable material.
• Installing, copying, distributing or using software that has not been authorized by the SSCC IT department.
• Using computing resources for illegal activities.
• Accessing or attempting to access another user’s files, e-mail or other computing resources without their permission.
• Allowing unauthorized users to utilize your account.
• Using computer resources for commercial or profit-making purposes without written authorization from SSCC.
• Creation and/or distribution of viruses or other destructive programs.
• Originating or proliferating electronic mail or other messages that may be deemed as obscene or abusive. E-Mail is covered under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. This act provides for prosecution of individuals found surreptitiously capturing, reading or altering another’s e-mail without permission.
• Violating Alabama Research and Engineering Network policies provided in the Alabama
• Supercomputer Authority Appendix (see the Snead State Catalog).

Confidentiality of Student Information (FERPA)

Snead State Community College complies with the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 as amended. Faculty cannot post any personally identifiable information about a student to public websites (i.e. websites where the information may be visible to people outside of a course), or require a student to post personally identifiable information to any such websites, without first obtaining written consent from the student.

Nondiscrimination Policy

It is the policy of the Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees and Snead State Community College, a postsecondary institution under its control, that no person shall, on the grounds of race, color, disability, sex, religion, creed, national origin, or age, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefit of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program, activity, or employment. Additional information on Snead State’s Equal Opportunity Policy can be found in the College Catalog.