CIC Online Community
Best Practices and Etiquette, Rules and Advice,
Disclaimer and Privacy Policy
Thank you for being part of CIC’s online community. Online communities can be a helpful medium to solicit advice from peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation.
To ensure the best possible experience for all participants, CIC has established basic guidelines for participation. By participating in this community, you agree to read and comply with the rules, etiquette, and privacy guidelines. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, CIC reserves the right to suspend or terminate, without prior notice, participation in this community for anyone who fails to abide by these guidelines.
Please direct all questions or comments to Christopher Dodds, CIC director of digital communications and strategy, at (202) 466-7230 or cdodds@cic.nche.edu.
Best Practices and Etiquette
- State concisely and clearly the topic of comments in the subject line. This allows other participants to respond appropriately and makes it easier to search the archives by subject.
Include only the relevant portions of the original message in a reply. Do not type your response to a message within the body of the previous message. Type your entire response as a new message—even if responding to just a single question or poll.
- Only send a message to all participants when it contains information that would benefit everyone. Otherwise respond directly to the author of the message to which you are responding.
- Do not post or send a message for the sole purpose of testing to see if you have access.
- If you believe messages are not being posted, please do not send or post the message again. Instead, contact CIC to receive support.
- Send messages such as “thanks for the information” or “me, too” only to individuals and not to all community participants. You can do so by choosing the “Reply to Sender” option.
- Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the community members. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list, or contact CIC for support. If you have changed email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address; instead update your profile.
Community Rules
- Discussion posts should address specific issues or questions. Inappropriate uses include general announcements of events, job vacancies, and other appeals not specific to the community interest.
- Unacceptable use includes posting harassing or embarrassing messages; sharing sexually explicit images or content; sharing racially, ethnically, or otherwise offensive and discriminatory materials; and posting messages that violate any applicable local, state, national, or international laws.
- All posts must originate from the identified community member. Do not post information from another user's account or request another user to post from your account.
- Information or materials protected by copyright can only be shared with permission from the copyright owner and by strict adherence to exceptions found in U.S. copyright law.
- Community-created content may be shared or reproduced by CIC and subscribed members of the community unless specified otherwise.
- Caution is warranted when discussing products or services of third parties. Information posted can be subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
Legal Disclaimer
Online communities are provided as a service for the members of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) only. CIC is not responsible for the opinions and information posted by others. CIC disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by CIC or any third party. This disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall CIC be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.
Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or by implication leads to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. CIC does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not undertake editorial control of postings. In the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of CIC, however, staff will take appropriate action.
CIC reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by the Community Rules.
Privacy Policy
CIC respects the privacy of all participants in its Online Communities.
Any personal information community members provide to CIC—including and similar to name, address, telephone number, and email address—will not be released, sold, or rented to any third party entity except as noted below.
CIC’s Community sites are cookie-enabled.
A “cookie” is a small text file that is stored on user devices and enables this site to recognize users and recall site preferences. Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and CIC does not use cookies to collect personal information.
CIC only shares personal information collected through its online community sites in distinct circumstances and with specific third parties. Those include:
Service Providers.
CIC may share personal information with technology companies that perform services on its behalf and only if warranted. CIC’s service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information to which they have access and to use it only to provide specific services on CIC’s behalf.
Government and Legal Disclosures
CIC will disclose personal information when, in good faith, the organization, as advised by counsel, believes disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena) to prevent or investigate a possible crime; enforce the terms and conditions or other agreements that govern use of this site; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the organization.
While CIC will do its best to protect personal information, the organization cannot guarantee the security of any information that is transmitted to CIC. Users are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information.
For any question or to receive additional information, please contact Christopher Dodds, CIC director of digital communications and strategy, at (202) 466-7230 or
cdodds@cic.nche.edu.