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Marketing and Communications

Social Media Guidelines

York College Social Media Guidelines

Introduction

York College (“York College” or the “College”) and its various departments have established several social media platforms, for the purpose of advancing its mission, providing connections within and beyond the College Community, and raising the profile of the College.  This document is intended to provide guidance and requirements for the establishment and operation of such sites.

The College reserves the right to remove content from College-established social media sites, without notice to the originator of the material, if the material violates any of the guidelines found throughout this document.  Examples of material that may be removed under this provision include, but are not limited to:

  1. Material that violates Federal, State or Local law, including but not limited to Intellectual Property law or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which restricts the disclosure of personally identifiable student information without that student’s consent.
  2. Material designed to defame or harass a specific individual or group based on a legally recognized protected class.
  3. Commercial solicitations.
  4. Pornographic or obscene material.
  5. Material that discusses criminal or illegal activities with the intent to commit them.
  6. Material designed to circumvent IT security protections or to insert malicious software.

Guidelines for the Establishment of Social Media Sites

  • All College-related social media must be designed in order to uphold and advance York College’s mission.
  • All College-related social media sites must be assigned an account manager, responsible for maintaining the site and regularly adding material to the site.  In addition, administrator access to the site must be provided to the College’s Director of Communications.
  • To the extent possible, the account manager for each site shall ensure the accuracy of information before it is posted to the site.
  • For Facebook sites, College-related sites must be “fan pages,” which users “like” rather than “friend.”
  • Media inquiries related to content on College-related social media must be directed to the College’s Director of Communications.

Guidelines for the Operation of Social Media Sites

  • All College-related social media must observe all applicable Federal, State and Local laws.
  • Use of College-related social media sites by CUNY employees is subject to all College and University policies, including but not limited to Human Resources policies and procedures, Computer Use Policy, Intellectual Property, Accessibility, Policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination, and IT Security.
  • Use of College-related social media sites are subject to the Terms of Service and/or User Agreement for the individual social media service (e.g., Facebook/Meta Terms of Service, Twitter/X Terms of Service, etc.)
  • Use of College logo, seal, or other symbols or marks of the College is prohibited unless authorized in writing by the College.
  • The York College name may not be used (or implied) to endorse political candidates (regardless of any connection to the College).
  • The York College name may not be used (or implied) to personally solicit products and/or services.
  • Do not post confidential or proprietary information about the College or private information about any administrators, faculty, staff or students.

The College’s Director of Communications is Stephannia Cleaton, reachable at 718-262-2305 or scleaton@york.cuny.edu

Social Media Request Form

Department or Office

Primary Social Media

Primary Social Media

What social media platforms do you want to use?
Do you need social media training?
Do you have a copy of the University Brand Voice Guidelines?

CUNY Social Media Best Practices

When representing the College on social media:

  • Posts should always remain respectful, professional and inclusive. Abusive or offensive posts that undermine the University’s reputation and mission will not be tolerated and could violate student code of conduct and employee policies.
  • Do not use a CUNY social media account to post for personal purposes. Social media accounts are for the dissemination of official University content only.
  • Be conscious of the laws and regulations governing the privacy of student education records, including FERPA, protected health information, including HIPAA, and any personally identifiable information. Do not post confidential or private information about students, faculty, alumni or staff. Please refer to our guidance regarding doxxing.
  • Do not engage in debates, arguments or respond to negative comments and direct messages unless you can provide information that may help resolve the issue, offer clarification or an acknowledgment is needed on behalf of CUNY and/or a college. Before responding to a post or comment, consult with colleagues and think through your response strategy rather than posting immediately.
  • Delete or hide comments that are abusive, contain profanity, are threatening in tone, devolve into personal attacks, and or spam. You should report profiles, comments and users to the social media platform for violating their terms and community guidelines.  Please follow the instructions laid out by the following platforms:
  • Please make every effort to credit the photographer or source of your photo when and where you can. Utilize CUNY’s Flickr account for recent promotional campaigns and events. Central Office does not have an enterprise account for paid stock photos, photo banks or graphic design tools like Canva.
  • If you plan to take photos for an event, a consent and release form is strongly recommended. You can find a digital copy here for reference.
  • Make every effort to make your content accessible by providing closed captioning to your videos and alt-text on your photos. The CUNY Accessibility page has further details.