Web publishing represents the university to the world, and public Web content and design must reflect the same careful preparation, accuracy, security, accessibility, and branded identity given to any other form of official university communication. This Web Publishing Policy establishes a structure to create, update, and maintain a common set of Web publishing practices and procedures. That structure engages all stakeholders in the development of these practices and procedures, and empowers the Web Administrative Team to implement them.
The Web Administrative Team consists of the Associate Vice Chancellor of Integrated University Communications (IUC) and the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Technology and Extended Learning (ATEL). They are charged to:
A. Coordinate and guide development of a Web publishing strategy for the university and to coordinate CU Denver’s Web strategy with the University of Colorado system-wide strategy.
B. Seek expert advice and consult with faculty, staff, and student governance bodies, including the Associate Deans and Academic Support Group and the Academic and Student Affairs Leadership groups. Advice and consultation also will be provided by the Communication Advisory Council, IT Services, University Compliance, university Web authors and other affected parties in the development of Web publishing policies, strategies and proposals.
C. Consult with campus Web developers and the above stakeholders to update and maintain a CU Denver Web Publishing Practices and Procedures manual.
The Web Administrative Team reports to the Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Advancement and Chief of Staff.
The Web Administrative Team oversees expenditure of staff and other resources dedicated to university-wide improvement of Web sites. The university-wide resources include content and branding services provided by IUC and Web development, research and analytic services provided by the University Web Services team in ATEL. The Web Infrastructure and development environment is serviced by the Academic Information Systems and Development team in ATEL.
Web publishing shall be done through a centrally supported Web Content Management System (CMS) unless the Web Administrative Team approves the use of an alternative environment because important Web publishing needs cannot be accommodated by the CMS.Any Web publishing or Web applications that are not in the CMS shall use CU Denver approved Web servers and comply with guidelines for their use.
Web publishing should be used exclusively for CU Denver business. The university’s Web publishing resources may be used only to promote the instructional, research, creative activity, outreach and administrative objectives of the CU Denver community. For example, university Web resources may not be used for personal business consulting or for hobbies unrelated to university business.
Hosting affiliated organizations, acknowledging collaborations, commercial advertising and e-commerce
Hosting non-campus web sites
Official units of the campus may host Web sites for educational and nonprofit organizations affiliated with CU Denver as long as the campus role and participation are acknowledged and the sites have an official CU Denver unit sponsor. Review of such sites by Web Advisory Team will ensure appropriate acknowledgment language and placement.
These restrictions apply only to “hosting” Web sites and are not intended to prevent official units of the campus from providing information on conferences, events or activities of affiliated or unaffiliated organizations that are relevant to university business.
Acknowledging collaborations Official Web sites may acknowledge business support or collaborations that assist CU Denver in achieving its mission. Acknowledgement may include using a link to a corporate home page. Such acknowledgement may not include advertising or endorsements of products and services.
Sale of commercial advertising is not permitted on university Web sites. Commerce and fundraising activities on the Web must comply with all policies and practices for such activity established by Finance and Administration.
Official Web sites may acknowledge business support or collaborations that assist CU Denver in achieving its mission. Acknowledgement may include using a link to a corporate home page. Such acknowledgement may not include advertising or endorsements of products and services.
Sale of commercial advertising is not permitted on university Web sites. Commerce and fundraising activities on the Web must comply with all policies and practices for such activity established by Finance and Administration
Using university Web publishing for any partisan political activity, such as supporting a particular candidate for any elective office or a particular position on an issue before the voters of any jurisdiction, is prohibited by Colorado law.
Web sites must adhere to any University of Colorado system privacy policy and specific campus procedures identified in the CU Denver Web Publishing Practices and Procedures document.
Web publishing is subject to federal and state law and university policies regarding copyright. Copyright permission may be necessary not only for text but in some instances also for photographs, graphics, audio, video, compiled statistics, graphs or other materials, as well as for mirrored Web sites. Instructions for observing these requirements are identified in the CU Denver Web Publishing Practices and Procedures document.
University marks are registered in the State of Colorado, at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and internationally. This ensures protection of the integrity of these marks. For the precise application of identity standards see CU Denver Web Publishing Practices and Procedures.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to publish and maintain professional Web sites about their individual work and role at the university. These Web sites shall be hosted as part of the Web sites of the official unit of the university to which they belong.
Students may use personal Web space provided to them by the university only for purposes related to their academic program or student life.
Personal Web pages unrelated to one’s role in the university, such as a family or personal hobby web site, will not be hosted on university servers.
All university Web sites must use the ucdenver.edu domain name. Exceptions may be granted by the Web Advisory Team.
A sub-domain alias may be established (e.g., admissions.cudenver.edu). Naming conflicts will be resolved by the Web Administrative Team.
To serve all members of our CU Denver community and to comply with federal and state laws and university policy, Web sites must be made reasonably accessible to people with disabilities. Please refer to “CU Denver Web Publishing Practices and Procedures” for detailed information on implementation.
Responsibility for compliance and interpretation of this policy
Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that Web authors under their direction comply with this policy. Anyone who has a question about the interpretation of this policy or whether some use of Web publishing is permitted should consult with the Web Administrative Team.
Non-compliance
University Web Services shall communicate with affected parties about any non-compliance issues, give instructions to correct the problem and specify a reasonable timeframe in which the correction is to be made. Disputes will be mediated by the Web Administrative Team. The Web Administrative Team may ask the Communications Advisory Council for advice or recommendations to remedy or avoid such policy disputes. If non-compliance issues jeopardize the university’s image and reputation or compromise security, University Web Services may temporarily deactivate a Web page, remove links to specified material, close a user’s account or take other appropriate action until the problem is remedied. The person responsible for the non-compliant Web site and their supervisor shall be notified when such extraordinary action is necessary.
This policy document does not exhaust the requirements for Web publishing at CU Denver. Web publishing must comply with all University of Colorado System and CU Denver policies, and local, state and federal laws. A list of reference documents shall be included in the “CU Denver Web Publishing Practices and Procedures’ document.