Social Media

 

Policy Number:

OPER_0073

Policy Statement:

Garden City Community College values the roles individuals play within the college and desires to serve students, faculty, staff and the community with open communications and information. As such, the College encourages the use of the Internet and social media to enhance stakeholders’ capacity to learn and to enhance communication.

This policy does not restrict academic freedom or employees’ personal Internet usage. The College respects employees’ rights to express personal opinions in personal Internet postings and does not retaliate or discriminate against employees who use their Internet postings for lawful purposes.

Procedures:

GCCC employees who post Internet content including, but not limited to, video or wiki postings, chat rooms, social media sites, personal blogs or other similar forms of online journals or newsletters will bear in mind that all communication represents the College and thus reflects on the integrity, ethics, and good name of the organization as a public education institution. It also is extremely important that the GCCC avoids potentially damaging consequences such as the presence of out-of-date information, the failure to provide appropriate information to stakeholders, or the misrepresentation of Garden City Community College mission, policies, or values.  The College President, or designee, shall approve which web and social media outlets may be suitable for official use by the College and its departments.

DEFINITIONS

Social Media - Generally, social media is any site or online process designed to facilitate simple and streamlined communication among users. Social media sites differ from conventional communication media such as online newspapers and magazines in that they tend to be less structured and complex, and more friendly, personal, and intimate in nature, and they tend to offer tools which allow for quick, unfiltered, and often spontaneous communication opportunities.

Social Network - For the purposes of this document, the term “social network” or “social networking” refers to any interaction between a participant and any site deemed by the College to be social media. Interaction is not limited to accessing the website of such social media sites, but also sending to or receiving from such sites any emails, text messages, or any other electronic interaction.

Official -  In terms of this policy, “official” refers to any site or process set up by Garden City Community College, its employees, agents, or contractors, which serves to communicate sanctioned GCCC information or to engage stakeholders in discussion about topics, services, or processes under the auspices of the College.

GUIDELINES

1. All official College appearances on Internet media sites or services are considered an extension of the College’s information network and are governed by the College’s Policies & Procedures and Negotiated Agreement.
2. Departments and programs that use web and social media are responsible for complying with applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and policies. This includes adherence to established laws and policies regarding copyright, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the First Amendment, privacy laws, and information security policies established by the College.
3. Wherever possible, links to more information should direct users back to the College’s official website for more information, forms, documents or online services necessary to conduct business with the College.
4. Employees representing the College via social media outlets must conduct themselves at all times as representatives of the College. Employees who fail to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner shall be subject to the disciplinary procedures outlined in the GCCC Policies & Procedures or the Negotiated Agreement.
5. The College will monitor content on each department’s social media and web sites to ensure adherence and compliance with the Social Media Policy for use, messages, and branding consistent with the goals of the College.
6. Violations of these standards may result in the removal of department pages from Internet outlets.
7. Employees shall have no expectation of privacy when using Internet sites.
8. Only authorized web and social media sites may be used for official College Internet appearances.

 

Contacts:

Chief Financial Officer

Policy History:

July 2, 2026: Revised to include policy number

May 19, 2026: Revised format for accessibility

October 1, 2016: Approved

March 8, 2011: Reviewed