Attachment II

EDUCOM / EDUCAUSE History

EDUCOM was a non-profit consortium of colleges and universities committed to the use and management of information technology for teaching and learning. The EDUCOM Code is their statement of principle about intellectual property and the legal and ethical use of software. As an institutional member of EDUCOM, Southwest Texas State University endorsed the EDUCOM Code when it was promulgated in 1987. In July 1998, EDUCOM merged with CAUSE to form EDUCAUSE. Texas State University-San Marcos, having been a member of both EDUCOM and CAUSE as Southwest Texas State University, is currently an institutional member of EDUCAUSE and continues to endorse the principles presented in the EDUCOM Code.

The EDUCAUSE Statement on Software and Intellectual Rights

Respect for intellectual labor and creativity is vital to academic discourse and enterprise. This principle applies to works of all authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the right to determine the form, manner, and terms of publication and distribution.

Because electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced, respect for the work and personal expression of others is especially critical in computer environments. Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret and copyright violations may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community.

Texas State University–San Marcos Software Copyright Policy Statement

Most computer software in use at Texas State is protected by federal copyright laws. Educational institutions do not have any special exemptions to these laws. Registered users do not actually own software, but are merely provided with a non-exclusive license to operate the software on only one single-user machine at a time, unless stated otherwise. It is almost always illegal to make a second copy of software that you intend to use without buying another license for the second machine. The Academic Computing Committee has adopted a resolution supporting the intent of this policy.

Texas State expects its students, staff, and faculty to become familiar with the issues of software copyrights, and to avoid using or providing for any use of copyrighted software that violates licensing agreements while performing University business or in a University facility. This policy pertains to not only major productivity applications, but also to proprietary fonts, templates and other data, run-time packages, operating systems, and utilities such as disk utilities, screen savers, terminate-and-stay-resident programs, desk accessories, etc.