Intellectual Property and Related Issues

Students
All student work completed at The Marlboro College Graduate Center is the sole and exclusive property of the students. Occasionally, faculty members have invited students or alumni to contract with them or their organizations to create special software or other projects. Ownership rights to this type of work should be specifically agreed to by both parties, in writing, prior to its creation. The Marlboro College Graduate Center is not liable for the quality, timeliness, or delivery of any work contracted outside its academic relationship with students.

If you suspect that a student has not respected the intellectual property guidelines of The Marlboro College Graduate Center, or of the US Federal Code (Title 17 of the Copyright Act) you should consult your Program Director or the Director of Academic programs immediately. The Director will convene a meeting of the Academic Advisory Board, which is responsible for decisions regarding plagiarism, academic fraud, copyright violation, and disciplinary action, including suspension, dismissal, appeal, or any other serious matters that relate to the academic standing of a student.

The Board consists of the Director of Academic Programs and two Marlboro College Graduate Center faculty members. Two members of the Board must be present at a meeting for a quorum to exist. In extraordinary circumstances, the Director of Academic Programs may make decisions without consultation of the other members of the Board. In those situations, the Director's decision will hold until he/she consults with the other Board members, at which point a final decision will be made.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism describes a variety of academic offenses and errors in which a student uses information from a source without providing adequate attribution. The Academic Advisory Board will review any complaints that plagiarism has taken place, with consequences ranging from the student correcting an error, to receiving an F in a course, academic probation, or dismissal from the program. Examples of plagiarism include the following: academic fraud, technical plagiarism, and copyright violation.

Academic Fraud
Academic Fraud occurs when one deliberately misrepresents another person's work as his or her own. This can include, but is not limited to, buying a term paper, taking someone's graphic without acknowledgment, or copying someone's html code without permission. Fraud will not be tolerated, and when proven, will result in an F for the course, and will render the student liable for dismissal from the program.

Technical Plagiarism
Technical Plagiarism occurs when one inadvertently fails to properly cite, credit, and/or integrate a source, be it text, computer code, graphic, audio, or video information into one's work. Technical plagiarism can range in severity from an errant footnote, to incomplete citation information to "forgetting" to cite altogether. In the public environment of the World Wide Web, the consequences of these errors can range from mild embarrassment to possible lawsuits. The Academic Advisory Board will review cases of Technical Plagiarism with faculty members and make recommendations for correcting these cases that may include academic penalties for the student where appropriate.

Copyright Violation
Copyright Violation occurs when you follow all the rules for correct citation, and thus avoid plagiarism, yet your use of materials exceeds Fair Use guidelines as outlined in copyright laws and you have not received copyright clearance to use the material (Fair Use guidelines are available online at the Library of Congress site). Given that your courses and course work may concern themselves with projects that are "published" on the World Wide Web, you are required by federal law to honor copyright guidelines. Failure to procure copyright may result in the need to delete portions of your work from Web sites that may be graded as part of your course work. These deletions may result in reduced grades, up to and including, course failure.

Notification of Action
A student placed on suspension, reinstated from suspension, or dismissed from the program will be notified in writing.

Suspension
In certain cases, the Academic Advisory Board may place a student on suspension for violations of its policies. Suspension means that the student may not attend classes or participate in online activities during that period of time. Suspensions are temporary in nature, and their term will be decided upon by the Academic Advisory Board in its discretion, appropriate to the seriousness of the offense.

Dismissal
In certain cases, the Academic Advisory Board may dismiss a student whose conduct seriously undermines the educational environment of The Marlboro College Graduate Center. Such behavior may include, but not be limited to, sexual harassment (see Policies on Discrimination and Sexual Harassment), threatening behavior, aggressive conduct, activities that violate federal, state or local laws, or actions that constitute an offense under the guidelines of The Marlboro College Graduate Center as noted in the Handbook.

Appeal
Those students who are dismissed may appeal the decision to the President of Marlboro College.

Non Disclosure Agreements
When students or their capstone sponsoring organizations request that faculty and staff members at The Marlboro College Graduate Center agree to non-disclosure of private information that may jeopardize a pre-publication academic project, the Director of Academic Programs must review this agreement and confer with our legal counsel on its contents prior to signing it.

Once The Marlboro College Graduate Center has signed a non-disclosure agreement, faculty members and advisors, as employees of the Center, must abide by its contents. The Director of Academic Programs will provide faculty members with a copy of any NDAs that we are abiding.

Acceptable Use of Marlboro College Graduate Center Networks and Computers
This policy addresses the acceptable use and management of Marlboro College Graduate Center information technology resources. It is intended to define and provide effective protection, equitable access, and administrative guidelines for the use of these resources. The purpose of this policy is not to replace but to supplement existing laws, regulations, and general Marlboro College Graduate Center codes of conduct currently in place.

In support of the Marlboro College Graduate Center mission, and within its institutional priorities, the Marlboro College Graduate Center provides access to computing, network, and information systems and services for the students, faculty, and staff who form the basis of our community. The Marlboro College Graduate Center strives to create an intellectual environment in which everyone can access information and collaborate with colleagues both within our community and at other institutions. In doing so, the Marlboro College Graduate Center is committed to maintaining an information environment free from harassment and accessible to all community members. Such an environment can exist only when the users and managers of information technology behave responsibly and respectfully.

Questions regarding this policy or the use of information technology at the Marlboro College Graduate Center may be addressed to the Director of Academic Programs, or the Director of Information Technology, or the Technical Systems Administrator.

General Rules
Users of Marlboro College Graduate Center computing resources must comply with federal and state laws, Marlboro College Graduate Center rules and policies, and the terms of applicable contracts, including software licenses. Examples of applicable laws, rules, and policies include the laws of libel, privacy, copyright, trademark, obscenity, and child pornography, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the Marlboro College Graduate Center's Compliance Policy. Users who communicate electronically with persons in other states or countries and/or on other systems or networks may also be subject to the laws and policies of those jurisdictions or organizations.

Users do not own accounts on Marlboro College Graduate Center computers, but are granted the privilege of exclusive use. Accounts and passwords may not be used or shared with persons other than those to whom they have been assigned.

Although there currently is no set bandwidth, disk space, CPU time, or other limit applicable to all uses of Marlboro College Graduate Center technology resources, the Marlboro College Graduate Center may require users to limit or refrain from specific uses if such use interferes with the efficient operation of the network and systems.

Users may not use information technology resources to gain unauthorized access to remote or onsite computers or networks and may not attempt to degrade, impair, or damage the operation of Marlboro College Graduate Center computing resources.

This policy may be modified as deemed appropriate.

Enforcement
Users who misuse Marlboro College Graduate Center information technology resources may lose access to such resources immediately when it reasonably appears necessary to do so in order to protect the integrity and security of Marlboro College Graduate Center systems. Users who violate this policy may also be subject to other penalties and disciplinary action, including referrals to law enforcement agencies.

Security and Privacy
Although The Marlboro College Graduate Center employs various measures to protect the security of its information resources, including user accounts, the Marlboro College Graduate Center cannot guarantee security and privacy. Users are encouraged to protect their passwords and use virus-protection software.

Individual use of information resources is not monitored; however, system performance, activity logs, data caches, general usage patterns and other such activities are reviewed and monitored in accordance with regular system administration practices. Therefore, users should also be aware that their use of Marlboro College Graduate Center information technology, though not monitored specifically, is also not completely private.

Commercial Use
Marlboro College Graduate Center information technology resources may not be used for commercial purposes or business ventures not related to our academic programs or to the Corporation of Marlboro College.

Email
Email, or any electronic messaging involving Marlboro College Graduate Center computing resources, may not be used for transmitting any of the following types of information:

Harassing, threatening, abusive, obscene, or other messages not in compliance with the Marlboro College Graduate Center's code of conduct or compliance policy.

Inappropriate mass mailings such as chain mail, spam, junk mail, or other intentional messages which disrupt normal email service.

last revised: August, 2007

top