Policy

Policy Statement
St. Norbert College is built upon and committed to maintaining the spirit of communio. The
advent of social media has opened a gateway for community members to embrace this value
within virtual spaces. Social media has rapidly advanced our college’s engagement within and
beyond our community, expanding upon our Catholic, Norbertine, and liberal arts traditions. At
the same time, inappropriate use (defined as use in violation of other college policy) of social
media by students or employees, which can take many forms, has the potential to undermine
communio or violate the mutual respect at the heart of SNC’s values.

College community members have full rights to utilize social media and to maintain freedom of
expression through these online, virtual platforms. However, there may be consequences if
individuals’ actions on these platforms violate generally accepted policies at the college.

Scope
This document spells out guidelines and expectations related to college-associated and personal
social media accounts of students, faculty and staff. These accounts may include, but are not
limited to, the following forms of social media:

● Blogs (WordPress, Blogger, etc.)
● Content (Wikipedia, podcasts, etc.)
● Microblogging (Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc.)
● Multimedia Sharing (Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
● Opinion Site (Yelp, TripAdvisor, YikYak, etc.)
● Social & Professional Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)
● Social Bookmarking (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.)
● Social Collaboration and Creativity (Prezi, SlideShare, etc.)

Procedure

Personal Social Media Usage - Guidelines and Expectations
Students and employees should refrain from online commentary regarding their colleagues that is inaccurate, threatening, harassing, or slanderous to the college community. Online misconduct also includes feeding anonymous gossip sites with purposefully false or harmful information, sharing sexual or sex-based content via social media, posting unwelcome sexual or sex-based messaging, distributing or threatening to distribute revenge pornography, breaching another’s privacy, or otherwise using the ease of transmission and/or anonymity of the internet or other technology to harm another.

Comments or images that disparage or harass someone on the basis of a protected status, or comments or images that would contribute to a hostile working or learning environment, are prohibited. So too are any forms of expression of hate or abusive communications, as well as threatening, harassing (as defined in other college policies), intimidating, profane, obscene, or similarly inappropriate language.

If there is a misuse of social media by an SNC student or employee, as is the case with unprofessionalism, bullying, substance abuse, illegal action, or harassment/discrimination, the college has a right to investigate the concern. Appropriate policy and procedural actions will guide response, and findings in violation of college policy will result in appropriate disciplinary action by the college.

Responding to Concerns
Employees bear full responsibility for the material they post on personal blogs or other social media, even where the posting occurs during non-work hours; likewise, students are always considered representatives of the college and bear similar responsibility. While college officials do not regularly search for this information, officials may take action if and when such information is brought to the attention of supervisors, Human Resources, Student Affairs staff, or others expected to respond to concerns in general.

Generally, related campus policies (as outlined below) for responding to concerns will be followed. Inappropriate social media usage will typically result in response through Judicial Affairs (for students) or in coordination of a supervisor and Human Resources (for employees). However, particular campus response procedures may be in place for different situations, such as those involving harassing or discriminating behaviors based on sex, gender, or sexuality or other protected classes.

Employees with concerns, questions or complaints in relation to this policy may contact the Assistant Vice President of Human Resources, Heather Butterfield, at 920-403-3210 or heather.butterfield@snc.edu, or can submit an online report through the Share a Concern site for employees.

Concerns, questions, or complaints regarding student conduct should be raised to the Director of Judicial Affairs, Lori Evans, at 920-403-3275 or lori.evans@snc.edu, or submitted through the Early Alert site for students.

Related Campus Policies
The following policies may relate to the expectations outlined within this document, and will help to guide response to concerns related to improper social media usage:

Social Media and Technology Use Policies

• Social Media Commenting Policy: https://www.snc.edu/news/socialcommentingpolicy.html
• Social media policy – SNC-affiliated accounts: https://www.snc.edu/its/login/policies/SocialMediaPolicy.pdf
• Social Media Guidelines – SNC-affiliated accounts: https://www.snc.edu/about/docs/login/socialmediaguidelines.pdf
• Computing and Networking Appropriate Use Policy: https://www.snc.edu/its/login/policies/ComputingAndNetworkingAppropriateUsePolicy.pdf   
• Employee Device Use Policy (For SNC-Issued Devices): https://www.snc.edu/its/login/policies/EmployeeDeviceUseTermsAndConditionsPolicy.pdf 
• Student Email Policy: https://www.snc.edu/its/login/policies/StudentEmailPolicy.pdf

Other Related Policies/Documents

• The Citizen: https://www.snc.edu/judicialaffairs/docs/TheCitizen.pdf
• Sex/Gender Harassment and Discrimination Policy: https://www.snc.edu/titleix/docs/sexual-misconduct-policy.pdf
• Bias Incidents – BIRG: https://www.snc.edu/diversityaffairs/biasincidents/
• Workplace expectations – Corrective action: https://www.snc.edu/hr/policies/workplaceexpectations/correctiveaction.html
• Workplace expectations: Professional conduct: https://www.snc.edu/hr/policies/workplaceexpectations/professionalconduct.html