Preamble
Concerto is a constantly evolving service to the RPI community designed to improve dissemination of information. Concerto provides a modern and maintainable system to host a wide of variety of content and acts as a means of communication between members of the Institute community.
While all members of the RPI community may use Concerto, it is a student-designed and student-driven system. This makes Concerto uniquely responsive to new technologies, ideas, and interests. It is thus of paramount importance that students retain primacy over what they have created.
In order to achieve the goal of promoting the responsible use of Concerto in compliance with relevant laws and regulations, the Concerto Content and Administration Policy is thus enacted.
Authority & Governing Policies
Concerto, as a student run information system on campus, exists in the context of existing rules and regulations contained in the Student Handbook of Rights and Responsibilities, the Electronic Citizenship Policy, and the Rensselaer Union Constitution. This document shall supplement and clarify these policies as they apply to Concerto.
This policy shall serve as terms of service for Concerto. As such, RPI TV and the Web Technologies Group (hereafter WTG) shall have the authority to limit or terminate access to Concerto at their discretion. However, they shall not do so without good cause, and shall provide a detailed explanation to all parties concerned. These actions may occur independently or as a result of judicial or disciplinary action taken with regard to such violations.
Roles
The WTG shall serve as the primary administrator, developer, and maintainer of the software and hardware components of Concerto (as stated in the Equipment Policy), and will promote and facilitate the use of Concerto across campus. The WTG shall also be responsible for delegating administration and moderation privileges to users as needed.
RPI TV, a Union-funded and accredited media organization, shall be responsible for the moderation of any content submitted to student-driven feeds in the Concerto system in accordance with its rights and responsibilities under the RPI TV Constitution and the Media Statement.
Any student, staff, or faculty member involved in moderating or administering Concerto shall moderate or administer it in a transparent, fair, and clearly prescribed manner and shall only be sanctioned under this or other applicable policies by the appropriate judicial bodies operating under the Institute Hearing Procedures.
Content Policies
All submitters and moderators of content shall be responsible for ensuring that their actions are in keeping with applicable laws and regulations and that content in Concerto is accurate and up-to-date. Screen owners shall be responsible for determining the content feeds to which their screen subscribes.
Inappropriate Content
Content submitted to Concerto shall not contain:
- Anything of a libelous, graphically inappropriate, or profane nature.
- Unauthorized use of copyrighted content whose use falls outside of the copyright “fair use” doctrine and guidelines.
- Content originating from non-RPI-affiliated organizations, except as allowed under the “Commercial Content” clause.
- Any content expressing a political or religious opinion, except material pertaining to student elections posted in compliance with Student Senate election regulations.
Content of a critical or editorial nature on any topic of campus interest shall be allowed at moderator discretion unless such content expressly violates the above prohibitions.Commercial Content
Content whose purpose is to market or sell a product or service for profit shall not be submitted to Concerto or approved by moderators.
Exception to this restriction shall be made for entities contracting or otherwise arranging with the Institute to provide commercial services on campus, but only for content pertaining to their role on campus.
Enforcement Procedures
In keeping Concerto’s content in compliance with this policy and relevant laws and regulations, RPI TV and/or the WTG may take proactive action in the removal of content or termination of privileges as needed.
They shall also respond to complaints about violations of this policy in writing or electronically from any member of the RPI community, and either act on the alleged violation or provide explanation as to why action will not be taken. This shall occur within one Institute Day of receiving the complaint.
Any action taken by the WTG, either proactively or in response to a complaint, will be confined to the content and user privileges in Concerto.
The WTG may also elect to bring alleged violations before the appropriate judicial body, either to seek the imposition of sanctions or to seek adjudication over a complaint it deems improper or invalid.
All documents and communications generated in the course of this procedure shall be considered public information and made available upon request by the WTG or RPI TV, unless expressly prohibited by law.
Amendments
The WTG and the membership of RPI TV, following consultation with representatives from Strategic Communications and External Relations, the Division of the Chief Information Officer, and the Administration Division, shall ratify amendments to this policy.