Faculty Senate to review computer anti-virus policy


By Jeff Sklar
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, February 9, 2004

Faculty senators will consider a policy today that requires campus computer and network users to install anti-virus software and keep it up to date.

The policy would apply to users across campus, including students using their own computers in the residence halls, said Mike Torregrossa, the Center for Computing and Information Technology's associate director for computing services.

But it would not mean students would have to purchase anti-virus software, he said, because CCIT offers a free package on its Web site, at sitelicense.arizona.edu/sophos.

The proposal senators will consider today includes other revisions to an existing policy outlining acceptable use regulations of UA networks.

Other new provisions include extending the regulations to wireless network components and preventing people with access to privileged data from accessing that information for professional reasons.

"It would apply to all University of Arizona networks and computers," said Chestalene Pintozzi, who chairs the Faculty Senate's Research Policy Committee.

The existing policy lays out a wide-ranging set of restrictions, including banning the use of the UA network to send bulk e-mails and requiring the use of security measures to protect information.

The senate will consider the proposal when it meets at 3 p.m. today in Room 146 of the College of Law building.

- Jeff Sklar