Fordham University Web Governance Guideline

Purpose

The Fordham University Web Governance Guideline is intended to set standards for acceptable use of the Fordham University web infrastructure and resources, clarify responsibilities, and encourage accurate, useful, and appropriate presentations of information.

Scope

This Fordham University Web Governance Guideline applies to publication of information on the Internet and specifically to web publications. This policy applies to information:

  • published within the Fordham Internet domain (fordham.edu) and any other subsequent domain names the University officially establishes, such as blog or wiki sites.
  • published on servers owned, leased or contracted by Fordham University for electronic communications.
  • published elsewhere under direction or control of a Fordham University department, organization, or individual, where the contents are identified as official Fordham information.
  • published publicly on unauthenticated Fordham sites as well as content protected by authentication.

Official and Unofficial Pages

Fordham hosts two categories of web pages: "official" and "unofficial" pages.

Official Pages

Official pages communicate official information about Fordham University or provide access to information critical to Fordham current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, or affiliates and include pages published by Fordham Faculty or Staff that are about Fordham's

  • schools;
  • departments;
  • offices;
  • centers;
  • programs;
  • services;
  • divisions;
  • libraries;
  • the University’s mission.

Official pages may be publicly accessible or accessed via authentication (portal or intranet.)

Official pages are reviewed and approved by respective department/division heads or their designees, and are subject to approval by University Marketing and Communications. Official pages must be monitored thereafter to ensure that the Fordham website is accurate, effective, and supports University goals.

Hosting for Official Pages

Official Fordham websites must be hosted within the fordham.edu domain or one of the other subsequent domain names the University officially establishes. Official pages hosted outside of the Fordham-provided infrastructure must have the express permission for external hosting from University Marketing and Communications. Official websites built outside of Fordham domains without permission may not be linked to from the University’s main website; subject to the discretion of University Marketing and Communications.

Publishing Tools for Official Pages

Official Fordham websites must be published using web authoring tools sanctioned by Fordham IT and University Marketing and Communications and using the templates provided within those tools to ensure consistent branding, messaging, look and feel.

Content Requirements for Official Pages

Official web pages must:

  • adhere to New York State Technology Policy 99-3, Universal Accessibility for NYS Web Sites, which outlines techniques for designing accessible websites, especially for the seeing-impaired who use screen readers to navigate the web. The specific federal regulation that covers this is Sec 508B of the WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT OF 1998.
  • clearly identify the name of the department, unit, or organization publishing the document.
  • contain contact information that is clearly shown. The "homepage" for each responsible office must contain contact information for the office, organization or school including phone number and/or e-mail address.
  • link to appropriate pages on the official Fordham website when referencing official bulletin information (i.e. curricula, course descriptions, admissions and financial aid requirements) rather than repeating it.
  • be kept current and up-to-date. Information on Web pages should be updated regularly, reflecting its audience’s needs, whether that be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. Every office is encouraged to update or refresh the content and design of their pages twice a year, preferably every fall and every spring. Out-of-date web pages and content will be removed at the discretion of University Marketing and Communications.

Unofficial Pages

Unofficial pages include pages published by or about:

  • individual faculty, students, or staff members;
  • student organizations; other organizations not formally a part of the University;
  • academic course webpages;
  • digital collections/archives hosted by the libraries or other divisions/departments;

Unofficial pages are not regularly reviewed or monitored. However, all materials included in the Fordham web presence must be accessible, and comply with the established rules and regulations of Fordham such as the Fordham IT Acceptable Use Policy, the Fordham Privacy Policy, and the University's Code of Conduct.

No unofficial pages may be represented as official Fordham content.

Content Requirements for Unofficial Pages

Unofficial web pages must:

  • clearly identify the faculty, staff, student, or student organization publishing the document;
  • clearly identify the publisher’s connection to Fordham.