Effective Date: Draft October 26, 2010
Last Reviewed: October 26, 2010
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to define responsibilities and requirements for the creation and management of domain names owned by Stonehill College or served under the IP address spaced owned by Stonehill College.
Scope
This policy applies to all online services operated or contracted by any entity of Stonehill College where the service is offered under the name of Stonehill College. Commercial or non-profit services contracted by the College which operate under their own entity name are excluded from this policy. An example of such a service is the Common Application.
Policy
The STONEHILL.EDU domain name is recognized as the official domain name of Stonehill College. STONEHILL.EDU is a second-level domain below the top level .EDU domain which is managed by Educause.
All web services that are funded and/or operated by Stonehill College are required to have a name in the STONEHILL.EDU domain to present a unified internet identity and ensure the integrity of internet services that are affiliated with the College.
College funds may not be used to purchase or maintain domain names outside of STONEHILL.EDU unless otherwise permitted through the exception procedure.
The Department of Information Technology is the official institutional contact and registrant of domain names on behalf of Stonehill College. No other College entity, including employees and students, or third party contractor has the authority to register Internet domain names on behalf of the College or their respective organizational unit.
Definitions
Domain Name
A domain name locates an organization or other entity on the Internet.
IP address space
IP (Internet Protocol) address space is a range of IP addresses which is assigned to an organization from a registry such as ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers) which the organization is free to allocate as they wish.
Domain Name Assignment
The primary World Wide Web presence of Stonehill College is WWW.STONEHILL.EDU. Assignment of meaningful URLs for departments or services within the primary web site is the responsibility of the Web Office. The College supports the assignment of meaningful third-level domain names within the STONEHILL.EDU domain for College funded or operated web services, e.g. MYHILL.STONEHILL.EDU. Assignment of third-level domain names is the responsibility of the Department of Information Technology.
Domain Name Exceptions
Stonehill College may consider granting an exception to the Domain Name Policy.
External organizations that are closely affiliated with Stonehill College and have web services hosted by the College are permitted to have non-STONEHILL.EDU domain names if they are not wholly owned or controlled by the College. An example of this exception includes the Congregation of Holy Cross. This type of exception may be made in a small number of cases for organizations that are: dedicated to the support of higher education; sponsored by a Division Head; and coordinated by a College faculty or staff member who is responsible for maintaining the relationship with the external organization.
On a case-by-case basis and in unique circumstances, the College may grant an exception to the above requirements. Such requests must be submitted through a Division Head and reviewed by the CIO, Office of the General Counsel, and Director of Marketing. Such requests for an exception must establish that a non-STONEHILL.EDU domain name is necessary as part of the normal web services of the requesting department and that the web service is targeted to an audience that is not represented by the STONEHILL.EDU web presence. The requesting department must also demonstrate that the web service is substantially different in content and purpose than other services within the STONEHILL.EDU domain.