Social Media Policy

I.  POLICY STATEMENT

Occidental College uses social media as an extension of its brand to communicate with its campus community, including students, employees, parents, and alumni, as well as the general public, who may not be reached through traditional communication methods. Content covers a range of themes that support Occidental’s teaching and research mission, including events, news, and campus activities. This policy is designed to help Occidental employees make appropriate decisions when managing and developing social media initiatives and messages affiliated with or on behalf of the College as well as engaging with content from other accounts.

II.  DEFINITIONS

Account Administrators — Account administrators are faculty and staff who manage College-Affiliated Accounts, as defined herein. Account administrators are responsible for the content published on their social media accounts, including overseeing the work of additional moderators, and ensuring that content and interactions comply with this policy, other College policies, and local, state, and federal laws.

Account Moderators — Individuals, including faculty, staff, or student workers, who are granted authority to post content on College-Affiliated accounts, including replies, direct messages, and reposting/resharing the work of others, while not having access to passwords and account deletion. Moderators may not change passwords, share passwords, or delete accounts.

College-Affiliated Accounts — All social media and other third-party digital communications channels published in the name of the College, any of its organizational units, or any entity that is sponsored by or affiliated with Occidental College. This includes, without limitation, accounts maintained by: academic, administrative, and athletic departments; College-sponsored teams, programs, and organizations; ASOC Student Services and other units and programs that are managed by College employees (faculty, staff, and student workers) in connection with their assigned work duties; and third-party service providers (if the account is maintained for the College’s benefit). College-Affiliated Accounts do not include those operated by student groups or clubs, or faculty research groups.

Social Media — Forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content (such as videos). Examples include, but are not limited to: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, blogs, and other similar platforms or applications. One-way broadcast communication (e.g. websites, emails, radio) is not specifically included in this policy, nor are private discussion groups (e.g. course blogs).

Unaffiliated Accounts — Social media accounts that are not recognized as College-Affiliated Accounts or authorized to publish content on behalf of the College, but that purport or appear to have some connection with the College. This includes but is not limited to the accounts of alumni groups, interest groups, and most registered or unregistered student clubs, unless they fall within the definition of College-Affiliated Accounts.

III.  APPLICABILITY

1. This Policy applies to all College-Affiliated Accounts.
2. This Policy provides guidance to students, employees, and managers of Unaffiliated Accounts regarding appropriate social media conduct and conduct that may be inconsistent with other College policies.

IV.  POLICY

A. Standards and Practices for College-Affiliated Accounts

1. College-Affiliated Accounts should be operated in a manner that is consistent with the College’s mission, brand, and business purposes. These official accounts should promote educational and inclusive practices and are subject to the College’s review and discretion, consistent with its commitment to academic freedom.
2. Unless expressly authorized to do so, no person may act as a spokesperson for the College, or post anything on social media in the name of the College, or in such a manner that the posting could reasonably be attributed to the College.
3. Account Administrators and Account Moderators may not post confidential, private, privileged, or proprietary information of the College or any persons associated with the College, including, without limitation, trade secrets, proprietary business data, personally-identifiable information (PII), and other confidential communications, reports, and information. Student names are acceptable to be published if the student consents to the publication.
4. When engaging in social media activities, Account Administrators and Account Moderators must adhere to all applicable College policies (such as the Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy, Code of Student Conduct, Faculty Handbook, Employee Handbook Standards of Conduct and Performance, Appropriate Use Policy, Use of College Names and Trademark Policy, etc.).
5. Content and tone on College-Affiliated Accounts should be in furtherance of Occidental’s mission and values. It should be professional, but it is acceptable to be more conversational on certain platforms (see Brand Style Guide, Social Media Brand Voice section). Accounts and Account Administrators may not engage in conduct on College-Affiliated Accounts that would not be acceptable in Occidental’s community, including but not limited to violation of College policy, personal insults, obscenities, threats, discrimination, or harassment.
6. All content shared on College-Affiliated Accounts must be consistent with the College’s policy on the Use of College Name and Trademarks. Account Administrators may not use Occidental's trademarks (including names and logos) or any College-Affiliated Account to promote, endorse, or renounce any campaign, legislation, political parties, or candidates for political office. To be clear, this policy does not prevent a College employee or student from publishing, promoting (including on social media), or discussing academic work, events, courses, or research in a manner that is consistent with the principles of academic freedom set forth in the Faculty Handbook.
7. Accountability will be determined consistent with the Employee Handbook, Faculty Handbook, Code of Student Conduct, and/or any applicable collective bargaining agreement.

B. Procedures for College-Affiliated Accounts

1. To be able to maintain a College-Affiliated Account, all pre-existing social media accounts and any new proposed social media accounts must be submitted through an online registration form for review and approval by OMC. Approval of an affiliated social media account will result in inclusion in the College Social Media Directory. As part of the registration process, all submitted accounts must provide updated passwords to the Office of Marketing & Communications to ensure that the site is managed consistently.
   1. OMC will not login to any active accounts without express permission/request or in case of security concerns (recovering a password or changing a password if an alum or non-employee still maintains access).
   2. For social media sites that do not have a standard login procedure (i.e. Facebook and LinkedIn pages do not require passwords), a representative Oxy account maintained by OMC may be added as an admin.
2. All College-Affiliated Accounts must have at least two Account Administrators (faculty or staff members) who regularly monitor the account’s content and are authorized to control two-factor authentication login. Students and other non-Account Administrators may assist as Account Moderators, but can not be owners or sole administrators of College-Affiliated Accounts. Wherever possible, College-Affiliated Accounts must be linked to departmental College email accounts (e.g. library@oxy.edu, omc@oxy.edu), and not to personal email accounts. When individuals leave the College or transition out of a social media management role, the account’s users and/or passwords must be updated immediately.
   1. If a second administrator opportunity does not naturally present itself, the account holder may request that OMC provide a second admin.
3. Account Administrators should monitor College-Affiliated Accounts throughout the business week. If comments are activated, they generally should not be deleted unless they violate College policies or community standards. Account Administrators must delete any comments that expose private or confidential information, contain commercial or political solicitations or endorsements, or are libelous, threatening, abusive or obscene. For guidance and assistance on how to respond to negative comments about the College, contact the College’s Manager of Digital Communications. Posts or comments that indicate a potential threat to any individual’s or group’s physical safety should be brought to the immediate attention of Campus Safety, and other administrators as listed in the College’s Threat Assessment Policy.
4. Account Administrators must comply with the College’s Style Guide when using College logos or marks to establish a social media presence on behalf of their College group or unit. As per the Style Guide, logos should not be modified beyond what is outlined.
5. Departments or units should not maintain dormant social media accounts bearing the Occidental College name. Accounts that are not used in regular and direct support of institutional priorities should be removed from the relevant social network. The College reserves the right to disable or unpublish College-Affiliated Accounts that are dormant (no posts or activity) for more than six months or do not have an active Account Administrator, or that are otherwise noncompliant with this policy.

C. Unaffiliated Accounts

The College does not actively monitor Unaffiliated Accounts or its employees’ or students’ personal accounts, and encourages community members to post, comment, and engage freely through such accounts, as they see fit.

1. However, students and Employees who maintain Unaffiliated Accounts or personal social media accounts may be held responsible for their social media activity if it violates an applicable law or College policy in a way that  substantially disrupts College community members in their education or work or directly and adversely affects an employee’s performance of their job duties. The College has defined substantial disruption in the Speech, Dissent, and Demonstration Policy.
2. Accountability will be determined consistent with the Employee Handbook, Faculty Handbook, Code of Student Conduct, and/or any applicable collective bargaining agreement.
3. When posting information about the College on personal accounts, employees should take care not to claim or appear to speak on behalf of the College or any College unit or department.
4. Unaffiliated accounts’ use of Occidental's trademarks, including names and logos must be consistent with the Policy on Use of College Name and Trademarks.

V.  POLICY HISTORY

Responsible Officer(s): VP of Marketing & Communications

Last Revised Date: May 14, 2026

VI.  RELATED POLICIES AND RESOURCES

• Appropriate Use Policy
• Code of Student Conduct
• Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy
• Employee Handbook (Standards of Conduct and Performance)
• Faculty Handbook
• Social Media Guidelines - coming soon
• Style Guide
• Threat Assessment Policy
• Use of College Name and Trademarks
• Speech, Dissent, and Demonstration Policy