Home >> About Us >> Resources >> Computer Resources >> Computer Policy
Computer Policies
Dept. of Statistics
Texas
A&M University
Revision: May 15, 2007
In order to comply with Texas A&M University rules governing computer use, the Department of Statistics has developed the following set of rules governing access to its computing system. Users of the computing facilities are expected to abide by the following set of rules.
Users agree to periodically check the web site for any updates to these policies and abide by the latest revision of this document. The latest version of this document can be found here: http://www.stat.tamu.edu/policy .
Users agree to abide by all laws, rules, regulation and policies that govern the use of computers at Texas A&M University. See here to get started: http://rules-saps.tamu.edu, http://itim.tamu.edu/itpolicy.html and http://student-rules.tamu.edu.
Users are advised that almost all documents (including email) stored on university owned systems are subject to the Texas Open Records Act and could, after proper procedure is followed, become public.
In general, IT support requests should be sent by email to support@stat.tamu.edu. The IT staff must be notified at least one week ahead of time regarding all requests for computing and related equipment (laptops, projectors, etc.). If you do not know the precise time and location, tell us as much as you do know, such as the approximate date, time and location. The IT staff often fulfills requests with less than a week notice, but we do not promise that we will.
Sharing accounts with another user or allowing another user to use your account is strictly prohibited. Violation of this policy may result in account suspension or other disciplinary action. Using multiple accounts to bypass departmentally imposed account and computer usage restrictions is considered a severe violation of the rules.
All software, multimedia or data installed, downloaded or stored on departmental computers must be properly licensed or purchased. You may not install software on our systems unless you have a valid license to do so. You may not download mp3’s or other music, video, pictures or data files unless you own them or are otherwise properly licensed to use them.
Data on our system is backed up on a regular schedule. Note that backups can and do fail, so we strongly recommend users implement personal back up measures for important material.
Email on this system is filtered. For example, an email that contains viruses, is deemed unsolicited commercial email (i.e. spam), does not follow proper email protocols, contains certain types of high-risk attachments, or is too large may not be delivered to the intended recipient.
Document retention (including email) is the responsibility of the individual users. University rules and regulations require documents to be retained for a certain amount of time. The IT staff does not handle document retention and the regular backups are not designed or intended to meet document retention requirements.
Important information concerning the use of our computer system will be periodically distributed by email to all users. Users are expected to access their accounts on a regular basis and, if requested, respond to email concerning your account. Due to the large number of users, we plan to use email contact to verify the activity of user accounts and may use the failure to respond to email as an indication that an account is no longer active.
As long as faculty and staff remain employed by this department and graduate students are currently enrolled students of this department, their computing accounts will be renewed on a year-to-year basis. The exact method of renewal will be made known before the account expires; though for most users the process will be transparent as the department will determine eligibility annually. However, accounts may be closed and deleted without warning for the following reasons:
if a user is found to be ineligible or unauthorized to have a Texas A&M computer account;
if, after repeated attempts, we are unable to contact the account holder; or
at the direction and discretion of the department head.
Please note that all applications for an account used by “affiliated users” need a faculty sponsor.
All printing may be logged. No multiple copies of any document may be made using public printers. This includes multiple copies of handouts for classes, papers, dissertations, etc. If more than one copy of a document is required, you can use the copier in the workroom (for university-approved purposes) or use a commercial copying service such as Kinko’s across the street (dissertations). Some users (usually graduate students) may have the quantity of printing they can do on departmental printers restricted.
Due to the Texas A&M firewall, accessing our computing system may require the use of VPN services provided by the university. More information on VPN is available at http://www.net.tamu.edu/network/vpn.html.