Guidelines for Interactions on Seattle Colleges Social Media Sites

Seattle Colleges recognizes the advantages and benefits of the responsible use of social media platforms and related technologies to support an engaged and collaborative learning community and to reach out effectively to our broader communities of current and prospective students, faculty and staff, alumni, and the public.  

We welcome interaction and discussion about the content we post on our social media sites and encourage all users to act in a respectful, constructive manner.

Below are the guidelines we follow.
 

Views expressed by users are strictly their own.

The views expressed by users in their posts, comments, or replies appearing on Seattle Colleges official social media sites solely reflect those of the author and may not reflect the official positions or opinions of Seattle Colleges.
 

Social media channels are monitored.

To ensure the interactions on official social media sites further meaningful dialogue, Seattle Colleges monitors our social media sites and reserves the right to report inappropriate comments to the social media platform operators and/or remove them.
 

Interactions may be reported and/or removed.

The following will not be tolerated when interacting with Seattle Colleges and those using our social media sites and other online forums: 

  • Obscenity
  • Sexual content or links to sexual content
  • Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity
  • Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party
  • Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
  • Potentially libelous comments
  • Threats or personal attacks
  • Content that constitutes discriminatory harassment on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation
  • Postings of, or requests for, other participants' personal information, such as phone number, address, financial accounts, etc.
  • Impersonation of someone else
  • Support for or opposition to political campaigns, candidates, parties, or ballot measures
  • Commercial messages, including advertisements, solicitations, and spam
  • Comments not meaningfully related to the particular topic presented
  • Hyperlinks to material not directly related to the discussion
  • Repetitive posts of the same material that disrupt normal operation of the forum

Posts, comments, replies, or public commentary containing any of the above may be reported and/or removed. 

Multiple violations may result in the restriction of a user’s ability to interact with Seattle Colleges on social media or other online forums. 

We respect the privacy of a user’s identity; however, persons making threats or using offensive language may be reported to the appropriate authorities. 

All posted content and commentary are public records subject to public disclosure under the Public Records Act. 
 

Employee and student use of social media is left to the individual’s own discretion.

Seattle Colleges takes no position on any employee’s or student’s decision to participate in the use of social media networks on personal time.  

Additionally, we take no responsibility for any views expressed by any employee or student in posts, comments, replies, or any public commentary they make through their own personal social media accounts. 

Online behavior of employees and students, especially when acting in an official capacity representing Seattle Colleges, may be subject to disciplinary action through the appropriate code of conduct maintained by Seattle Colleges. 
 

Definitions 

Social media: forms of online communication sites, platforms, tools, and channels through which users create or engage in to share information, ideas, personal messages, videos, and other content. Examples include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, among others.  

User: any individual who is accessing our social media sites and interacting with others through posts, comments, replies, or any public commentary.