Terms and Conditions - Online Alumni Community

The Columbia University Online Alumni Community (Online Community) is provided by the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) and Columbia University (CU) and is designed to facilitate communication among alumni for personal or University-related purposes.

Privacy and Security

Columbia University and Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) have not, do not, and will never sell alumni information to anyone. All alumni information is strictly guarded for use by individual alumni and the CAA for personal and University-related purposes only.

The CAA has taken all reasonable precautions to secure the personal information available through the Online Community. The Online Community is password protected to allow access by registered University alumni only. Although this precaution should effectively protect any personal information available through the Online Community from abuse or outside interference, a certain degree of privacy risk is faced any time information is shared over the Internet. Therefore, through the Online Directory feature of the Online Community, you have the ability to hide your information from being viewed by other community members.

Columbia does not regularly monitor private messages within the Online Community, although they might scan messages in aggregate to ensure there are no violations of usage terms or inappropriate behavior. In the case of a violation, Columbia reserves the right to examine associated messages taking place within the Online Community.

Policy and Guidelines for Proper Use

To safeguard the operation of the Online Community, the CAA has adopted many guidelines and policies that are used by the University to govern conduct that occurs in an online environment.

In addition to the University's policies and guidelines, users of the Online Community must abide by the following specific rules and regulations:

  1. Use of information or communications available through the Online Community for any commercial, public or political purposes is strictly prohibited. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, solicitations for commercial services, cold-calling of any kind or mass-mailings for commercial purposes. Information available through the Online Community may be used for specific personal and University-related purposes only. Members should not use the Online Community to engage in extensive debate on political, religious, or personal issues, or spam the group with multiple postings or continual discussions about one issue or topic that is not productive to community discussion or connections.  
  2. No individuals should use the Online Community to send unsolicited emails to more than 20 people within a 24-hour period.
  3. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, republishing, uploading, downloading, posting, transmitting or duplicating any of the material is prohibited. You may download or copy any downloadable materials displayed on the Online Community for home, non-commercial and personal use only; provided, however, that you maintain all copyright, trademark and other notices contained in such material and you agree to abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained in any material accessed through the Online Community.
  4. Users shall not restrict nor inhibit any other user from enjoying or productively using any service on the Online Community. Posting of obscene materials or use of obscene language, posting of vulgar materials, or use of vulgar language, or use of abusive, defamatory, disprespectful, profane, or threatening language of any kind, will constitute a violation of these policies governing the use of the Online Community. Additionally, users shall not upload, transmit, distribute or otherwise publish any materials containing a virus or any other harmful component.
  5.  Neither the University nor the CAA is responsible for screening communications in advance, and neither the University nor the CAA will constantly monitor the use of the Online Community. For this reason, it is essential that the alumni users of the Online Community report any abuses or misuse of the Online Community to the CAA. If the CAA determines that a user's participation in the Online Community creates a liability for the CAA or the University or that the user has violated the policies set forth herein, the CAA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to take actions against the user. The CAA reserves the right to expel a user and deny a user further access to the Online Community if such user violates these policies or any applicable laws or regulations.

Liability and Indemnity

The reliability of the information available through the Online Community is largely dependent upon the actions of community registrants. The CAA can make no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of this information.

The CAA does not warrant that the Online Community web site will operate error-free or that the site and its server are free of computer viruses or other harmful material. To the fullest extent permitted by the law, the CAA disclaims all warranties, including the warranties of merchantability, non-infringement, and fitness for particular purpose. In no event shall the CAA or the University be liable for any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, resulting from the use of or inability to use information or materials available on the Online Community web site.

By using the Online Community web site, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the CAA, the University, and their respective agents from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, costs, and expenses that may arise from your use of the Online Community web site or your breach of these policies. The CAA will provide notice to you of any such action or claim, and reserves the right to participate, at our expense, in the investigation, settlement, and defense of any such action or claim.

Please note that the CAA may revise these policies and your continued use of the site constitutes your agreement to comply with such modifications. You should review the policies periodically to ensure that you are familiar with them.

Participation in the Online Community is a privilege.