Everyone who uses ISU information and technology (I&T) resources — students, faculty, staff, contractors, and other affiliated persons — and even campus visitors and event guests who connect to university networks. It applies regardless of your affiliation or relationship with ISU. (Policy 9.2 — Scope)

Yes. The policy applies to all uses of I&T resources regardless of your physical location or the network you connect from. (Policy 9.2 — Scope)

Accepting the policy is a condition of activating and keeping your access. The university may require you to periodically review and re-acknowledge it as a condition of continued access. (Policy 9.2 — Purpose; Review and Approval)

Broadly, anything ISU provides, manages, or operates to create, store, communicate, or process information: computers, networking hardware, peripherals, software, databases, cloud services — and the data itself. (Policy 9.2 — Definitions)

The Lab Schools each maintain their own student technology acceptable use policy for the K-12 setting (including parental consent), and those govern student use of Lab Schools-specific resources. As a university employee, you remain subject to Policy 9.2 for your use of university I&T resources, and 9.2 applies as the university-wide standard wherever the Lab Schools policy does not address a topic. (Policy 9.2 — Scope, Laboratory Schools)

No. You must safeguard your accounts and credentials and must not share them. Your login also reaches sensitive systems, so sharing it can expose your own information. (Policy 9.2 §B.1)

Sharing your credentials is prohibited, but sharing access through an approved delegation feature is a separate, supported approach.  (Policy 9.2 §B.1)

Report it promptly to the Technology Support Center at supportcenter@illinoisstate.edu or call (309) 438-4357. A “compromised account” is any credential reasonably suspected of unauthorized access or use. (Policy 9.2 §B.2; Definitions)

They are university property and may be changed or revoked at any time. (Policy 9.2 §A.1)

Incidental personal use is allowed if it is limited in time and resource consumption and does not interfere with your duties or the university mission. Your unit or supervisor may set additional limits. (Policy 9.2 §C.1)

No. Personal use cannot involve promotion, solicitation, commercial gain, profit, or advertisement, and cannot imply university sponsorship or endorsement. (Policy 9.2 §C.2)

Personal use by employees must comply with the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, including its prohibitions on political activities. (Policy 9.2 §C.1)

Personally licensed software may be installed only if your Vice President or their designee approves it, it complies with university policy, it is properly licensed to you, and it does not interfere with your duties. (Policy 9.2 §C.3)

I&T resources are institutional assets, and the university reserves the right to access, monitor, and inspect them as necessary for security, integrity, operations, and legal or policy obligations. Using them does not create a privacy expectation that would prevent that. Any such access is to be limited to what is reasonably necessary and conducted under applicable law and university procedures. (Policy 9.2 §D.1–D.2)

The policy ties access aimed at investigating a specific individual’s conduct to the procedures governing that type of investigation (student conduct, employment actions, ethics investigations) — it is not open-ended. (Policy 9.2 §D.2)

If you access or store university data on a personal device, you must secure that device per university information security standards — for example password protection, encryption, and timely security updates. If the device is lost, stolen, or compromised, the university may remotely remove university-managed accounts and university data. This reaches only institutional data and services accessed through university-managed apps or accounts; the university will not access, search, or inspect your personal data, applications, or files outside university-managed resources. (Policy 9.2 §B.3; §D.2)

Possibly. As a public institution, information and records created, received, or stored on university I&T resources may be subject to disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or as otherwise required by law. (Policy 9.2 §D.4)

You are individually responsible for understanding the sensitivity of the information you handle and managing it under the 9.8 Information Security Program Policy and the 9.8.1 Data Classification Procedure. Unauthorized access, disclosure, or acquisition of data that must be kept confidential under Policy 1.10 is prohibited. (Policy 9.2 §B.2)

Yes, within the rules. AI use must comply with all other university policies — including academic integrity, research ethics, and intellectual property — and with all provisions of Policy 9.2. You are responsible for the accuracy and ethical implications of content you generate with AI. (Policy 9.2 §A.5)

Only if the AI tool has been authorized by the university for that data’s classification level. (Policy 9.2 §B.2)

AI output may contain copyrighted or otherwise protected material, and you are responsible for verifying its originality and legality before using it in university work. Additional university-wide AI guidelines may impose further requirements. (Policy 9.2 §A.5)

No — unless you have been granted specific contract authority under Policy 7.1.40. This applies whether the product is free or paid, because click-through terms can be binding legal contracts, and some bind the organization the user represents, not just the individual. (Policy 9.2 §A.2; Definitions)

Yes. Any third-party service, vendor, or external partner granted access to I&T resources must comply with all applicable university policies and security standards. (Policy 9.2 §A.4)

Anything that violates state or federal law or university policy. This includes communications that are threatening, that incite imminent lawless action, or that are constitutionally obscene, as well as fraudulent or unethical communications, breaches of the peace, use of resources for financial gain, and illegal activity such as copyright infringement, harassment, fraud, or unauthorized security breaches. (Policy 9.2 §A.3; Definitions)

You must observe copyright, intellectual property rights, and software license terms, and copyright infringement is specifically prohibited. (Policy 9.2 §A.2–A.3)

Report suspected misuse or policy violations to abuse@ilstu.edu. (Policy 9.2 §E.1)

Report it to the Information Security Office at informationsecurityoffice@illinoisstate.edu. (Policy 9.2 §B.2)

If it is an emergency or needs immediate attention, do not use an email or web form — contact police directly:

• Emergency: dial 9-1-1.
• ISU Police Department: (309) 438-8631 — this line is always open.
• The Safe Redbirds app is ISU’s official safety app and another fast way to reach help.

For threatening or harassing online conduct that is not an immediate emergency, you can report the acceptable-use aspect to abuse@ilstu.edu and use the reporting channels at saferedbirds.illinoisstate.edu/report (which route concerns such as stalking or relationship violence to the right office). Note that the Safe Redbirds report site is not monitored around the clock, so anything urgent should go to ISU Police by phone.

This policy applies to all users, and everyone is accountable to it. How a violation is handled depends on your affiliation: for students, through the student conduct process (the Code of Student Conduct); for faculty and staff, through the applicable employee disciplinary process, up to and including termination or dismissal. Any user may also lose access to university technology and, depending on the conduct, face civil or criminal legal consequences. Violations are handled under 9.2.1 Procedures for Appropriate Use Violations.

You accept individual responsibility for all violations that occur from or with your use of I&T resources, and you are expected to cooperate fully with investigations. This is another reason not to share credentials. (Policy 9.2 §E.1)

Familiarize yourself with the policy and complete any university-mandated training related to acceptable use. The university may also require periodic review and re-acknowledgment. (Policy 9.2 §A.6; Review and Approval)