Student Life
ACADEMIC COMPUTING GUIDELINES
General
Bethel College has built an investment in computing resources and has encouraged the College community to use these resources creatively in their work and studies. Access to the Internet, powerful central computers and an ever-increasing number of personal computers are assets in which we may take pride. Their value is increased the more we take advantage of them. Therefore, the members of the College community are encouraged to use these resources. Using these resources in a responsible manner will protect this investment.
Bethel College encourages and supports freedom of expression and an open environment for the pursuit of scholarly inquiry. The contents of all electronic pages published using Bethel College information systems must, however, comply with Bethel College policies, rules, and regulations, as well as local, state and federal laws. Responsible use of college computers and the Internet is more than adhering to a set of dos and don'ts. When using Bethel College computer resources, everyone is held to the ethical standards established by principles commonly accepted as a guide to behavior in a community of scholars. The following serve only as examples of how those standards apply to specific areas of computer and network usage. They are not meant to be a comprehensive list of what may or may not be done. This policy statement does not alter any existing College policy or procedure.
Copyright
Today, relatively inexpensive devices when used in conjunction with the World Wide Web permit the copying and publishing of enormous quantities of material. These materials could include original work, public domain materials, royalty-free-license-free materials, or copyrighted materials. All electronic publications of Bethel College must follow established standards regarding the reproduction of copyrighted materials.
The recommendation is always to secure appropriate permission when including copyrighted or trademark material such as text, photographic images, video, or graphic illustrations, in any electronic publication.
These policies apply to all users of the College computers and network facilities, including but not limited to, Bethel College students, faculty, staff, administrators and guest users.
College Computers
Usage of Bethel College computers, campus network and Internet, must conform to the Lifestyle Covenant Agreement and other standards of Bethel College. Computer usage is a privilege that may be revoked at any time for inappropriate conduct.
Network and E-Mail accounts will only be given to current Bethel College students, Faculty, Staff and Alumni.
Inappropriate use of the Internet anywhere on campus will result in disciplinary action.
Responsible use of the college computer and network resources requires that you:
- Respect the copyright and license provisions as they apply to all programs and data made available on the campus computers and the Internet. See the section below on "Using Software."
- Respect the copyright of all materials with respect to their incorporation into software, presentations, multimedia applications and Internet servers such as gopher and World Wide Web servers.
- Respect the rights of others by not tampering with their accounts, passwords, programs or data.
- Use only those computer IDs and passwords for which you are authorized, and use them only for the purposes for which they are intended. Do not share your computer accounts or passwords with others.
- Avoid overuse of the network or printing resources or the central computers' processing power or disk storage. Conservation of paper, ink and toner is encouraged.
- Avoid the use of College computing and network resources for private commercial purposes unless such arrangements have been made with the appropriate College officials
- Preserve the privacy of personal or institutional data to which you may have access.
- Choose an obscure password for user accounts and change it frequently.
- Provide for the security of computer systems and networks for which you are responsible. This includes, but is not limited to, providing for prevention of unauthorized access or destruction of programs and data, and providing for adequate backups.
- Regularly delete unneeded files and E-mail from your own account or computer.
Student Labs
The Bethel College student computer labs are equipped with computers primarily for the academic work of our students.
Several labs are located in the lower level of the Academic Building and their use is defined below:
- ED001 - This is the Student Lab. Note that floppy disk and CD Rom drives are not available on every computer. The computers on the outside walls have floppy disk drives and CD burners. These computers should be used primarily for homework, and may contain the special software required by some classes. Computers on the inside tables may not have any CD or floppy drives but they are available from the lab assistants to be checked out.
- ED033, ED034 & ED005 - These are Teaching Labs and are only used for classes and training.
Lab Hours and Rules
- Monday - Thursday 7:00 a.m. - midnight
- Friday 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
- Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.
- Sunday Lab hours 5:00p.m. - midnight
- Special Lab Hours as posted for Holidays, etc.
- Summer Hours: Monday-Thursday 8:00am – 8:00pm, Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm, Saturday and Sunday Closed
- Lab assistants will be on duty during lab hours. Please ask them for assistance.
- Viruses and non-working computers should be reported to a lab assistant immediately.
- You might get locked out of your account if errors are made when logging onto the Network, (such as inputting an incorrect user name or incorrect password). If this happens, contact a lab assistant or lab technician to have your account reset.
- Those wishing to use student computers for recreation are welcome to do so as long as other students are not disturbed, delayed or inconvenienced. Recreational computer use is not allowed at times when students with academic work are waiting.
- Any student working on a class assignment or student project has priority in the College computer labs, and any student using a computer for recreational use (games, correspondence, social E-mail, Telnet, etc...) is expected to relinquish their computer promptly in response to a request from a lab assistant or another student.
- Students must show a valid Bethel College ID card for themselves when asked to do so by lab assistants or staff. Failure to do so may result in immediate expulsion from the labs.
- Loud, disruptive, intimidating or vulgar behavior will not be tolerated in the student computer labs. Threatening, intimidating or vulgar behavior toward lab assistants or other students or failure to leave the labs when so ordered by lab assistants or staff will result in the revocation of the privilege to use the College student computer labs.
- Students may print only one copy of a document using the laser printers. Students should make additional copies using a copier.
- Headphones are required for any audio.
- Please consider others and clean your work area before leaving the labs.
- Do not install any kind of software anywhere without prior approval of the Network Administrator. This includes, but is not limited to Kazaa, Morpheus, games, chat software, or any other extraneous software.
- Do not install items to any local drives or network drives. Save items only to the H: drive or A: drive. Do not save to the C: drive.
- Bethel College only supports Microsoft Outlook E-Mail. Problems with other mail accounts (i.e. Hot Mail) will have to be directed to the representative of that service.
- Food and drink are not permitted in the computer labs.
College Network Resources and the Internet
Since most of the Lab systems are connected to the Internet, it is essential for each user to recognize his/her responsibility in using these services and systems.
Free access to the network is a privilege that may be revoked at any time for abusive conduct.
Such conduct includes, but is not limited to:
- Using the network for any purposes that violate U.S. or state laws
- Using the network to make unauthorized entry to other computational information communication resources
- Use of another person's account on the computer systems
- Tampering with network cabling or routing devices
- Use of software or hardware designed to disrupt the security of the network or devices on the network, or to spy on the network traffic of other users
- Knowingly and intentionally engaging in any activity that spreads computer viruses to campus computers or other computers on the Internet
- Impersonating another user in the use of the computers, networks or in E-mail or other messages
- Use of abusive or otherwise objectionable language in either public or private messages
- Sending of messages that are likely to result in the loss of recipients' work
- Sending of "Chain letters" or lengthy unsolicited messages to lists of people
- Distribution of unsolicited advertising
- And any other applications (e.g. webcams or mp3 audio file sharing applications) that cause congestion of the network and interfere with the work of others.
Disciplinary Action
Violators of College policies are subject to the normal disciplinary procedures of the College. Violations of College policies with respect to computing and network usage may result in the loss of computer and network access. Illegal actions are subject to prosecution by local, state or federal authorities.
Using Software
If you have questions not answered by this guide about the proper use and distribution of a software product, please seek help from Bethel College Help Desk, at 807.7777, or from the software developer or publisher.
Bethel Department of Information Technology will not provide equipment or software support for any computer on which unauthorized software is known to exist. In addition, where there are clear violations, Information Technology will report violations to the appropriate department heads or Senior Officers.
Virus Information
Get the latest computer virus information, including hoaxes.
Student Account Expiration
General Computer and E-mail accounts for students will expire four months after graduation or departure from Bethel College. Your student web account will still be accessible.
