Resource Usage Policy

Below are the defined policies for the use of School of Engineering resources. These policies cover the use of the lab computers, School of Engineering servers, the equipment found in the various engineering labs, and the sponsored Gmail account.

Lab Machines & Servers: In general, the University’s usage policy found at https://www.ship.edu/about/offices/technology/policies/acceptable-use/ also applies to the School of Engineering labs and servers. There are some minor differences which are as follows:

  • network scanning using Wireshark and other provided tools is permitted while performing coursework. Any usage of these tools for non-academic reasons is prohibited.
  • use of penetration testing tools, reverse engineering tools, and vulnerability scanning tools are permitted while performing coursework. Any usage of these tools for non-academic reasons is prohibited.
  • remote access to servers and other computing resources is permitted, and is often required, as part of your coursework
  • unlike the computers in other computer labs, the School of Engineering computers do NOT log you out automatically. It is your responsibility to log out of computers when you are finished. File corruption or other issues can result when attempting to log into multiple machines. If your failure to log out impacts another student, your account will be disabled until you demonstrate that you know the proper way to log out of the computers under both Linux and Windows.

Violation of these policies and any other inappropriate behavior can result in a variety of disciplinary actions, including the following:

  • documenting the incident
  • reporting the incident to the Dean of student for further action
  • the temporary or permanent loss of your account
  • In extreme cases dismissal from school and/or legal action

If your account access is revoked, it is your responsibility to find a solution for completing any coursework which requires the use of School of Engineering resources.

Lab Equipment: Use of equipment in the hands-on labs is restricted to students who have either received proper training in its use or have demonstrated proper use to either the faculty or staff. For unsupervised access to certain resources (MCT163), students must complete the mandatory safety training. This is covered in detail on the Policies for Unsupervised Lab Use (MCT Labs Only) page.

At this time, use of the equipment located in the Civil and Mechanical Engineering labs is controlled by the engineering technician. For instructions on specific equipment, please see your professor for guidance.

Sponsored Gmail Accounts (Google Workspace for Education): While the intent of this account is to be an educational resource for active students, continued use of this account is not only permitted, but is encouraged as it provides an effective method for the School of Engineering to reach out to alumni. It also provides graduates access to class projects located on the School of Engineering Gitlab server. In addition to Google’s defined policies, which can be found at https://www.google.com/gmail/about/policy/, the following guidelines apply:

  • The School of Engineering defines the inactivity period as 18 months, not the 2 years Google enforces. The cleanup procedures run during the summer break and January 1st of the previous year is used as the inactivity cut-off.
  • All users must comply with defined security requirements, such as password complexity and the use of multi-factor authentication.
  • Sending solicitation emails of any form is prohibited
  • As this account is sponsored by the School of Engineering, which is a public institution and part of the state government, it can not be used as a platform for expressing political or religious messages. However, discussions of a political or religious nature by willing participants is permitted.

Violating any of either Google’s or the School of Engineering’s defined policies will result in one of the following depending on the severity of the violation:

  • a written warning to cease and desist
  • a temporary suspension of the account which can be lifted once the users agrees to follow defined policies going forward
  • notification that the account will be terminated on a specific date to provide sufficient time to migrate files & emails and update contacts and online accounts which use the sponsored account as a primary or secondary point of contact
  • immediate termination of the account

If you are having issues with your sponsored Gmail account, please follow the directions on the School of Engineering’s FAQ page. (specifically #3, #4, #5, #6, #13)