Category: Policies and Procedures

Student Handbook

Social Media

The following are guidelines for placing CCS-related content on social media sites.

Departmental Social Accounts

Getting Started

Before creating your official CCS social media channel, please send a proposal to Marketing & Communications for review and approval. All accounts must be approved through the Office of Marketing & Communications, who will provide governance, oversight and advice to all department social media administrators. If your account predates this new process, we are requesting that all existing accounts go through this same approval process. Approvals will be sent back within two business weeks. Please consider the following questions when considering a new social account:

  • What are your goals for the account?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • What platform are you hoping to use & why?
  • How often are you going to post?
  • What kind of content will you post?
  • Are you able to provide enough content to maintain a social presence year-round?
  • How will this support the college as a whole as well as the individual department/office?
  • Do you have the time to do this well?

Account Management and Monitoring

Every departmental social account needs at least one, full-time staff or faculty member managing it. To prevent lapses in engagement or turnover, please add CCS’s Social Media Manager as an admin to the account and be sure to share your login information as well. CCS’ Social Media Manager reserves all rights to review and remove inappropriate content and to shut down inactive accounts.

Content Owners are responsible for posting and using content and maintaining compliance with CCS policies and all local, state and federal laws, including but not limited to: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), U.S. copyright law and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Social Media Do’s

  • Catalogue and retain an official account inventory and contact info for everyone who is posting/involved.
  • Create, maintain and monitor content on respective social media platforms and engage with users.
  • Post consistent, clear, quality content
  • Moderate content that violates hosting terms of service or is of a threatening/harassing nature.
  • Follow CCS’s main accounts and share when appropriate.
  • Ensure all content is relevant to the goals and objectives and upholds the standards and brand pillars of CCS.

Social Media Don’ts

  • Make sure you answer comments and direct messages in a timely manner. The common courtesy rule at CCS is no longer than 24 hours. Also, make sure your responses are courteous, professional and conversational.
  • Don’t post content that violates any laws or regulations.
  • Don’t use the College’s brand/name to endorse any view, product, private business, cause or political candidate.
  • Don’t represent personal opinions as college-endorsed views/policies.
  • Don’t promote external third-party fundraisers that do not directly benefit CCS. If you are approached about promoting a third-party fundraiser, please talk to Institutional Advancement and Marketing and Communications before moving forward.

Brand Standards and Style Guide

CCS social accounts need to convey our brand and be representative of a world-class art and design institution. To ensure that, follow these simple brand guidelines:

  • We need to make sure our account names are consistent. For undergraduate programs, please name your account ccs_departmentname. Ex: ccs_artpractice, ccs_photography, ccs_transportation. For graduate programs, please name your account ccsmfa_departmentname. Ex: ccsmfa_integrateddesign
  • Make sure you have a profile picture that is an official CCS departmental logo created and approved by the Marketing & Communications office.
  • Include the College’s main handle in your bio (ex. @ccs_detroit Product Design Department)
  • Your biography or about section should reflect your department description found on your CCS department site.
  • Follow CCS’s Style Guide [link] when designing posts, stories, etc. Consider using our official fonts, the official CCS colors, logos, etc.
  • When it comes to text – less is more! Images with too much text do not perform as well on social media.

Images

A few things to consider when posting:

  • Are your images sized correctly for posting?
  • Are your images crisp and clear?
  • Do your images properly represent the College and your department?
  • Can your image easily be cropped to 1:1?

Gifs: Gifs are fun and engaging. CCS Marketing & Communications has a library of them at your disposal.

Going “Live”

It is often useful to use live video to share demonstrations, guest lectures or other content. Please connect with CCS Marketing and Communications for guidance if needed.

Hashtags and Tagging

Hashtags are very important. It’s an easy way to connect your content to a specific topic, event, theme or conversation. Hashtags also make it easier to discover posts around specific topics, because hashtags aggregate all social media content with that same hashtag.

We request you use the following hashtags when posting:

#ccsdetroit      #ccsalumni      #ccsfamily

Be sure to tag the official @ccs_detroit account on all posts. This will give the Marketing & Communications team an opportunity to see all posts and share on the main account, when appropriate. Mentioning and tagging brings awareness to additional pages from the CCS community. Tagging also shows your content to a broader audience — the audience of both your account and the page you tag — meaning your message will reach more people.

Personal Social Accounts

CCS employees are welcome to represent CCS on their personal social accounts using the following guidelines:

Including CCS in your profile is one way to spread the word – but doing so means agreeing to act professionally on your account. Clearly identify yourself as an employee of the College in any business-related discussions. Be respectful and note that your opinions do not represent the views and opinions of CCS, unless specifically authorized to do so.

Sensitive information should never be shared via social platforms (yes, even over Direct Messages). Similar to College email, employees should have no expectation of privacy when using or posting on social media websites

Be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own sites and on others.
Be selective. Not everything needs a response. When you see criticism of the college online, don’t feel compelled to respond. If you have the ability to correct an error or factually incorrect statement, or give someone direction to a webpage that does so, that’s helpful. If you feel there is a post or comment that is sensitive and needs response, forward it to your supervisor or to CCS’s Social Media Manager.

Community Standards

CCS has established a set of community standards to govern all participation in our social media accounts, which are administered and moderated by Marketing & Communications. 

Additionally, individual departments that administer social accounts across any social media channels reserve the right to delete comments, replies or other content and interactions that they deem to be in violation of CCS’s social media community standards or in violation of the social media platforms’ community standards. The administrators may also take action to report, block or ban users from social media platforms for violations. 

Social media submissions that will be removed and reported may include, but are not limited to:

  • Harassing, intimidating or threatening comments to another person
  • Comments that incite violence or other action in violation of any federal or state anti-discrimination laws
  • Sexually explicit and sexually vulgar language and profanity
  • Comments that promote illegal activity
  • Comments that include false or defamatory information
  • Posts that misrepresent or hide the poster’s identity
  • Comments that violate privacy or confidentiality
  • Comments unrelated to the topic or to the College community
  • Repetitive comments and spam posts

Grade Change Forms

An instructor may change a student’s grade. The reason for this change may be due to completion of work from the previous semester (grade of “I” being changed to a letter grade) or a review of the student’s work which resulted in a better grade. A student who receives an “I” grade has one semester (Fall or Winter) to complete the work and receive the appropriate grade. After the one semester deadline, the “I” grade will be changed to an “F”. Instructors and Program Managers can obtain the Grade Change form from the Academic Advising and Registration Office (AARO). The instructor and Department Chair must sign the form, and it is then sent to the Office of Academic Affairs who return the approved form to the AARO. Instructors must provide complete and accurate information to ensure quick processing.

Students may appeal a grade up to 60 days after the last day of the semester in which the student was enrolled in the course. Appealing students should submit a written request to the Office of Academic Affairs identifying the course, instructor, and an explanation of the circumstances and reason for the request. The request will be reviewed and decided upon by the Academic Performance Committee.

Class Rosters

Taking attendance is a mandatory requirement and must be done electronically through the WebAdvisor system (see Appendix L). The preliminary class rosters are passed out as a courtesy for you to have on the first day of class. The first week of each semester is an add/drop period during which students may drop courses for which they previously registered or register for new courses with no penalty. After the add/drop period instructors must access their attendance roster online. Instructors are required to maintain attendance records electronically, which must be submitted at the end of the semester along with final grades. The roster includes all students registered in your class(es) through the end of the add/drop period.

If there is a person in your class who is NOT on your roster, it means the student is NOT REGISTERED for your class. It is imperative that you immediately send them to the Academic Advising and Registration office. Students are not permitted to be in your class unless they have officially registered for that class.

Faculty will begin to receive a weekly “drop notice” via email to inform you of any student who has officially withdrawn from your class(es). If there is a student listed on your roster who is not attending class you must contact the Academic Advising and Registration Office, and they will inquire why he/she has not been attending.

In addition, you may notice a “V” next to the names of some students on your roster. This means the students receive benefits from the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs. The VA requires attendance rosters, and it is the instructor’s responsibility to monitor this. The Academic Advising and Registration Office must report non-attendance of these students to the VA within 30 days of the last date of attendance. Instructors must report any “V” student who has missed three (3) weeks of class as soon as he/she misses the third week.

Registration Procedures

New Students:
New students receive a letter welcoming them to the College along with their username and password. Students are sent electronic communication from their academic advisor with directions on how to register along with an academic evaluation. New Students are encouraged to register online via WebAdvisor or in person with their Academic Advisor. WebAdvisor is a secure Web interface that allows students and faculty to access information contained in the college’s administrative database. For example, students can view their grades and transcript, search for open classes, view account balance information and print degree audits. Faculty members can view their class rosters, their scheduled classes, student information, and enter grades.

Returning Students:
Returning students are emailed an academic evaluation from the Academic Advising and Registration Office. The Advisor audits the student’s academic evaluation. If the student is on track with their academic program they are free to register in person or on-line. If the Advisor detects a concern with the academic evaluation, they place an advising hold on the student’s record. The student is then required to meet with their Academic Advisor to consult about their schedule. Once the hold is removed, the student may register online or at the Academic Advising and Registration Office. All students must pay a $100 commitment fee in order to register.

Academic Advising and Registration Office

The Registrar and the Director of Academic Advising manage the Academic Advising and Registration Office. The Academic Advising and Registration Office advises students on all aspects of their academic programs. It also is responsible for processing registration forms, enrollment verification forms, deferments, mid-term and final grades, grade changes, name and address changes, transcript requests, waivers, curriculum change forms, and degree audit files. The office produces schedule books for the fall, winter, and summer semesters, evaluates academic credits for transferability, audits prospective graduates’ files, maintains student records, oversees Veterans’ eligibility, maintains course equivalency guides, and maintains attendance records.

Dean’s or President’s List

Undergraduate students who complete a minimum of 12 credits during any semester and who attain a grade point average of 3.50 to 3.799 are placed on the Dean’s List. Students who achieve a GPA of 3.80 or above are placed on the President’s List. A notation will be placed on the student’s transcript for each semester that Dean’s List status is achieved.

Course Repetitions

A student may repeat a course in which credit has been earned in order to improve their grade. When a course is repeated, the higher grade will be used in the calculation of the cumulative grade point average. Any course, or its equivalent transfer course, may be applied only once toward fulfillment of any and all degree requirements, including elective credit. Work from previous attempts at the course cannot be reused in future attempts without written approval from the faculty member teaching the repeated course.

Academic Advising and Registration Office Forms

A list of helpful Academic Advising and Registration forms available on the College’s Campus Offices page follows:

  • Academic Alert Form – This online form was designed to proactively help students who may need additional support with their academic progress. An instructor may submit an Academic Alert Referral for any student in order to address an academic concern.
  • Registration Permission – An online form that requires the signature of the Department Chair or Program Manager, granting a student permission to register for a course that is filled or that has some other restriction.
  • Drop Request – An online form that the student must complete in order to begin the process of dropping (withdrawing) a course. The student’s Academic Advisor must sign the form for drops. If the student is changing section numbers no Advisor’s signature is needed.
  • Curriculum Change – An online form completed by a Department Chair advising Registration to alter a student’s curriculum in some way. Contact the Academic Advising and Registration Office to obtain the appropriate form.
  • Change of Major – A form with which a student may transfer from one program to another. The student must present their portfolio to the proposed new Department Chair for acceptance. The new Department Chair will sign and date the form, which indicates acceptance of the student into the major and confirms the assignment of studio credit.
  • Declaration of Minor – A form with which an undergraduate student may declare a minor.
  • Complete Withdrawal Form – If a student intends a complete withdrawal from CCS for the semester they must meet with an Advisor in the Academic Advising and Registration Office and then a Financial Aid officer for an exit interview. The Academic Advising and Registration Office processes the Complete Withdrawal form and distributes it to all concerned departments.

Waived Course

A required course may be waived by the Department Chair only. Waiving a course means only that the specific course is waived, not the credits attached to that course. The student must still plan to take a course to fill the credit deficiency. The Program Chair must complete a Curriculum Change form to indicate which course will replace the waived course. The Curriculum Change form is then submitted to the Academic Advising and Registration Office.

Smoking

State and local laws prohibit smoking in all parts of College buildings. City ordinance prohibits smoking within 15 feet of any building entrance.

In the interest of providing a safe and healthy environment for all staff, faculty, students and visitors, and in accordance with the Michigan Clean Indoor Act and the City of Detroit Smoking Pollution Control Ordinance, smoking is prohibited in all CCS buildings and within 15 feet of all building entrances and air intakes.

Enforcement of Policy

The success of this policy depends upon the thoughtfulness, consideration and cooperation of smokers and non-smokers. Students are encouraged to ask offending smokers to stop smoking. Any student smoking in a non-smoking area must immediately stop upon being requested to do so. Failure to do so will result in formal disciplinary action as outlined below.

Complaints

Complaints regarding the smoking of faculty and staff should be made to the Department Chair, the employee’s immediate supervisor or the Director of Human Resources. Complaints regarding students smoking should be made to the Director of Student Life.

Disciplinary Action

All student complaints should be made in writing to the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students will notify the student in writing that a complaint has been issued. A second offense will result in a $50 fine. A third offense will result in a $100 fine. Further violations will be subject to CCS disciplinary policies, up to and including expulsion.

Students wishing to contest the above may do so in writing to the Office of Student Affairs. Evidence of non-violation should be attached.