Student Computing Policy
Policies and procedures outlined in this document apply in addition to the Acceptable Use Policy that governs all information technology resources at Vanderbilt University. Violation of computing policies may result in corrective action through the university’s accountability process.
VUnetID and password
The VUnetID and password are the keys to access computing environments at Vanderbilt. A VUnetID is unique to each user. Together, a VUnetID and password act as an electronic signature indicating authorization and consent. It is recommended that a student’s password remain unique. This password should not be reused for other systems and applications.
- Sharing of Vanderbilt University passwords is prohibited.
- Students are responsible for all activity that occurs under their VUnetID.
- Students are prohibited from using another person’s VUnetID and password to access systems.
- Students are prohibited from allowing another person access to systems requiring their VUnetID and password (i.e., log in to their account and let another person use it).
- The university assumes that work completed under a VUnetID login is the student’s own. As such, this work is subject to the provisions of the Vanderbilt Honor System.
Email is considered an official means of communication for Vanderbilt students, faculty, and staff, and is the primary communication mechanism for most official notifications—including those required by federal statute.
- Students are responsible for monitoring their university-provided email.
- Students are required to be familiar with the contents of official university notifications and to take any mandatory actions outlined in such messages.
- Students may not unsubscribe from official university communications.
- Forwarding or re-directing university email is acceptable. However, spam filtering and quarantine in external systems is not a valid excuse for failure to receive and/or respond to official university communications.
- Students conducting official business on behalf of the university—including but not limited to student workers, teaching assistants, research assistants, and graduate assistants—are not permitted to forward or re-direct their official or work-related emails to external systems. For the purposes of this policy, Vanderbilt University Medical Center is considered to be an external entity.
- For students who a have an email address through the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, it is not recommended that clinical VUMC email be forwarded or re-directed to a university account.
- Students with VUMC email accounts should be aware that VUMC may have its own policies setting rules for such forwarding of VUMC e-mails.