Cyber-bullying and Social Media
Cyber Bullying is defined as any activity that deliberately threatens, harasses, intimidates an individual, places an individual in reasonable fear of harm to the individual or damage to the individual’s property; or has the effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the individual’s daily life via the use of electronic information and communication devices, to include but not be limited to: e-mail messages, instant messaging, text messaging, cellular telephone communications, internet blogs, social media sites, internet chat rooms, internet postings.
Cyber bullying by a member of the NLU community directed towards another is prohibited. It includes, but is not limited to:
- Sending mean, threatening or harassing messages to another person through texts, email, web pages, or instant messaging.
- Spreading lies and rumors about victims through the internet or text messages.
- Posting pictures without the consent of the individual.
- Tricking someone into revealing their personal information and sending it to others.
- Creating websites, polls, or blogs about the individual that are meant to embarrass or hurt the person.
- Recording conversations or videos without the individual’s consent and then posting it online.
The university may suspend network privileges for as long as necessary in order to protect the university’s computing resources for violations of this policy. In addition, any violation of this policy is “misconduct” and subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal for employees and expulsion for students, in accordance with the Student Conduct process. Additional sanctions may also include civil and/or criminal actions.
Any allegations of hazing, bullying or cyber-bullying are to be promptly reported through an Incident Report at nl.edu/letusknow.