Policies

Virtual Private Network (VPN) Policy

  Purpose Virtual Private Network (VPN) service at Williams College is managed and provided by Williams Office for Information Technology (OIT) for members of the college community, service providers, and registered guests who require remote and secure access to Williams computing services when at home or traveling. In… Continue reading »

College Listserv Instructions

Listserv uses A listserv is a technology that enables mass distribution of emails. Williams uses listservs to send official college messages to pre-defined groups within our community: all faculty, all staff, all students, etc. Please direct any questions about the technology to [email protected]. The main Williams listservs are available… Continue reading »

Data Governance Policy

The purpose of data governance is to establish a culture that ensures that institutional data is both secure and available to those who should have access to it. The policies and procedures delineated below serve as useful guidance to data stewards, users, and seekers alike. Data is a vital institutional… Continue reading »

High-Risk File Sharing Protection

To help protect our students and the college network, we by default block a small number of peer-to-peer sharing programs like bittorrent which our firewall system has deemed high-risk.  However we do realize that there are legitimate reasons to use torrent software and any student who… Continue reading »

Software and System Acquisition Process

This acquisition process ensures effective selection, implementation, and management of all college systems. It does so by identifying and assigning the resources necessary for all of these phases. The Office for Information Technology is here to help you when a new system or software is needed for the college.  We’ll… Continue reading »

Phone Harassment Block Policy

Anyone with a College phone extension who believes they are receiving harassing phone calls should report this to Campus Safety Services.  Campus Safety Services may advise contacting the Williamstown police department as phone harassment violates state laws. Campus Safety Services will evaluate (possibly with the assistance… Continue reading »

Data Classification Policy and Usage Guidelines

Data Classification Policy and Usage Guidelines Whether you study, teach or work at the College, you possess information that should be protected from exposure.  Personal information has a lot in common with money – it has value, whether it’s your SSN, bank account number, or account usernames & passwords.  These… Continue reading »

Emergency Access of Information

Williams College strives to ensure information privacy for its computer users.  Occasionally legitimate reasons arise that require access to information held on college systems. These exceptions may be required based on legal action (such as a court order), may involve the health and/or safety of an individual or… Continue reading »

Computing Ethics and Responsibilities

All members of the Williams Community should read, understand, and abide by the Computing Ethics & Responsibilities policy. It is a policy designed to protect everyone from malicious computing activities. Violation of Computing at Williams policies or procedures may result in the revocation of your computing privileges and/or other disciplinary action. Continue reading »

Data Jack Policy

OIT will no longer keep every single data jack on campus active. This policy has already been in effect in all student housing and has had no impact on our students.  We anticipate the same result for faculty and staff. Why are we doing this? Currently we maintain over 800… Continue reading »

Conference Phone Policy

Conference phones can be valuable aids for employees who have meetings with large groups of people. However, given the cost of these devices, OIT will only fund the purchase of conference phones when their use meets a certain level of need.  Not all locations need a permanent conference phone, but… Continue reading »

OIT Headset Policy

Purchase of new headsets OIT recommends using Jabra headsets with our phone system.  Departments should order their own headsets.  If you have any questions on a particular model, please contact [email protected] and a ticket will be entered for you. Updated  2/10/22 by Terri-Lynn Hurley… Continue reading »

Academic Poster Printing Policy

Posters used for conference poster presentations, departmental thesis poster sessions, research poster sessions and specific class assignments are eligible for free printing through ATS. These posters are considered to be academic posters. There’s more information available here as well as a signup sheet to make an appointment to print,… Continue reading »

Glow accounts for non-Williams users

Glow can be used to organize information, communicate with participants, conduct surveys, administer quizzes , manage projects, etc. There are circumstances where course instructors and Williams organization leaders may want to share this functionality with participants from both the Williams community and the wider community. Here are typical examples and… Continue reading »

No Domain Allowlist

OIT will NOT whitelist any domain to bypass the spam protection of our spam filtering appliance.  See SPAM Filtering and Why OIT does NOT whitelist a domain. Continue reading »

Privacy Policy

OIT respects your privacy and has put safeguards in place to protect it. Members of the community also need to protect the privacy of everyone on the Williams College network by keeping passwords secret and using college resources appropriately. Continue reading »

Printer Allocation

OIT will provide networked, post-script-capable, laser printers for workgroups. Printers will be located such that there is a workgroup printer convenient to all college employees who make use of printing. See the full policy for exceptions and support issues. Continue reading »

Downtime Policy

The Office for Information Technology (OIT) works hard to minimize downtime for the campus. But only through regular maintenance, which sometimes requires downtime, can we ensure maximum uptime for the network and all systems. Often the maintenance work requires contact with vendors or consultants during the work. Continue reading »

Communication Device Policy

Devices are provided for business use and must be used primarily for business purposes. A supervisor requesting a communication device for an employee should document that the individual needs the device for his/her job. Continue reading »

Electronic Device Policy

As part of our ongoing effort to keep up with recent innovation, the College will now allow the purchase of tablets (e.g. iPad or Androids), e-readers (e.g. Kindle or Nook) and laptops, so long as their use is primarily for academic, research, or business purposes. This does not include cell / smart phones (which is covered under a different policy). Also, because the College provides extensive wi-fi coverage, the College ordinarily will not cover the cost of a cellular data plan for any device. Continue reading »