Terms of use

Terms of use

First and foremost, The Duquesne Duke is dedicated to being an open, fair news forum for the students, faculty and alumnae of Duquesne University. This forum is conducted in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists and with sensitivity to the University's mission statement. By providing this open forum, The Duke is maintaining the atmosphere of responsible discussion that is the underpinning of the university setting.

To read the entire Constitution for The Duquesne Duke, click the "Our constitution" link under "About us."

Comments and Forum Posting Policy

Thank you for your interest and participation in The Duke< comments and online forum system. To safeguard Duquesne's Mission Statement while fostering a healthy campus dialogue, we require users to follow these basic posting guidelines:

Right to Delete Posts

Any postings that The Duke deems incongruent with its policies - including messages that are defamatory, obscene, abusive or in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or messages inconsistent with the University's Mission Statement and Catholic identity - are subject to editing or deletion. The Duke reserves the right to monitor forums and remove posting privileges of users who violate these terms. All messages must be written in English.

Posting Rules

Comments, interactive areas, discussion boards, and <i>The Duke</i> Forums are intended to encourage public debate. We expect participants to differ in judgment, their opinions are subjective, and we encourage freedom of speech and a marketplace of ideas. But by using these areas of our website, you are participating in a community that is intended for all our users. Therefore, we reserve the right to remove any content posted on our site at any time for any reason.

Decisions as to whether content violates any Posting Rule will be made by The Duke at its sole discretion, after having received actual notice of such posting. Without limiting our right to remove content, we have attempted to provide guidelines to those posting content on our site. When using our website, please do not post material that:

-   contains vulgar, profane, abusive or hateful language, epithets or slurs, text or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature, or expressions of bigotry, racism, discrimination or hatred.

-   is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, grossly inflammatory, false, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, inaccurate, unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community, contains any actionable statement, or tends to mislead or reflect unfairly on any other person, business or entity.

-   violates any right of The Duke or any third party.

-  discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation or disability, or refers to such matters in any manner prohibited by law.

-  violates any municipal, state or federal law, rule, regulation or ordinance, or attempts to encourage such an evasion or violation.

- unfairly interferes with any third party's uninterrupted use of The Duke.

- advertises, promotes or offers to trade any goods or services, except in areas specifically designated for such purpose.

- uploads copyrighted or other proprietary material of any kind on our website without the express permission of the owner of that material.

-  uses or attempts to use another's account, password, service or system except as expressly permitted by the Terms of Service.

-  includes images, photos, or articles or other content that constitutes, promotes or encourages illegal acts, violation of any right of any individual or entity, violation of any local, state, national or international law, rule, guideline or regulation, or otherwise creates liability.

-  uploads or transmits viruses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files.

-  disrupts, interferes with, or otherwise harms or violates the security of our website, or any services, system resources, accounts, passwords, servers or networks connected to or accessible through our website or affiliated or linked sites.

-  "flames" any individual or entity (e.g., sends repeated messages related to another user and/or makes derogatory or offensive comments about another individual), or repeats prior posting of the same message under multiple threads or subjects.

-  is inconsistent with the University's Mission Statement or Catholic identity.