Disclaimer: The content on these webpages appears as a courtesy to site visitors and is for general informational purposes only. To obtain a copy of the official applicable policy or regulation, please contact Brookdale’s Public Records Custodian via the Public Records webpage of the Brookdale website at https://www.brookdalecc.edu/about/public-records


I. Title of Regulation

College-Wide Website Development Standards and Best Practices

II. Objective of Regulation

To authorize the President to establish rules, procedures, and guidelines to govern the appearance and operations of Brookdale Community College’s institutional website at www.brookdalecc.edu   This regulation applies equally to any and all other implementations of the Brookdale website, present and future.

III. Authority

Board of Trustee Policy and Regulation 2.9000, Acceptable Use of Computer Network, Resources and Facilities

IV. Regulation Statement

The Brookdale website provides computing and network resources in support of the academic mission and administrative functions of the College, and serves as an information system including, but not limited to, educational applications, administrative information exchange, and presentation and promotion of the College to internal and external audiences, faculty/staff professional development, and College-sponsored community service.

Any official College website or webpage produced by a Brookdale student, faculty or staff member must comply with all federal, state, and local laws and College policies, including but not limited to, laws and policies concerning copyright, libel, FERPA (“Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act”), and obscene or harassing materials. Faculty, staff and student pages residing on the Brookdale website may not be used for personal or commercial gain.

The following is to define the scope of operations for the website:

A. Oversight

On behalf of the President, the Executive Director of College Relations will monitor the appropriate use of the website to ensure that it does not violate any of the rules contained herein or those of any other College Regulation. The person responsible for publishing and updating the information contained in webpages is the Campus/Client “Information Provider.” Every webpage is required to have an Information Provider; as appropriate, pages will include Information Provider contact links for users.

B. Operations

• College Relations staff has overall responsibility for developing and organizing content for the institutional website.

• Non-Academic/Administrative Information Providers, in collaboration with College Relations, have overall responsibility for developing and organizing content for their websites and webpages.

• Faculty and academic staff, in collaboration with the TLC, have overall responsibility for developing and organizing content for their websites and webpages.

• Student Clubs and Organizations, in consultation with Faculty advisors and in collaboration with College Relations, have overall responsibility for developing and organizing content for their websites and webpages. College Relations and the TLC staff will work with Information Providers to ensure that the site and all its functions are current, accurate, and operating properly; and that all applications are dynamic and innovative.

As appropriate, legal disclaimers, approved by College Relations, the TLC, or a Student Organization Faculty Advisor, may be utilized by Information Providers.

College Relations and the TLC, in conjunction with Human Resources and the Accessibility Services Office, will ensure that all webpages must be accessible to all users, including users with disabilities, compliant with Brookdale Community College policies in accordance with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

College Relations and the TLC will collaborate on the determination of common design features (including, but not limited to, acceptable College logos and navigation schemes) and updating these standards and operating procedures, as appropriate.

C. Layout and Design: Resources and Standards

As stated in this regulation, Information Providers will be assisted and facilitated by either the TLC or College Relations in the construction of their departmental, individual, or organizational websites and pages. Faculty, staff, and students may use the provided Brookdale-licensed templates for their websites and pages, or continue to work with their web development tools and software; however, technical support will only be made available for Brookdale-licensed tools and software.

Based on the College’s stated guidelines on internal communications, as well as the developed standards for print materials that bear the College’s name and logo, official College websites and webpages will contain clear and unambiguous navigational and identifying elements. Consistent navigational elements ensure ease of use, accessibility, and familiarization for the user. Basic navigational standards and guidelines are as follows:

• Every official page on the institutional website will clearly portray the Brookdale sanctioned logo and mark with an unambiguous link back to the homepage.

• As appropriate, webpages will include Information Provider contact links for users.

College Relations will conduct surveys periodically to determine whether students, staff and the community are suitably engaged by the overall design and information architecture of the website, and its tools/templates; concurrently, the TLC will consult with faculty to discuss and determine needs, concerns, initiatives and innovations. When College Relations determines—by virtue of a broad consultation with the College community in general—that a redesign of the website is in order, College Relations will act on behalf of the President as project manager for the redesign.

D. Site Management

Information must be kept current within the current academic term. Accordingly, College Relations will directly manage the homepage and official institutional webpages; every academic and staff department or division will appoint an Information Provider responsible for the regular updating of their pages’ content. With the assistance of the TLC and College Relations, Information Providers should review their department and/or individual pages each semester throughout the academic year to ensure compliance with the standards outlined in this regulation. Any inaccuracies or dead links noted by any constituent or end user, including College Relations or the TLC, will be brought to the attention of the
Information Provider for remediation.

The Office of Information Technology, College Relations and/or the TLC reserve the right to unlink any webpages or suspend any activity that generates network traffic to a degree that deprives other users of their legitimate use of these resources, or which impedes the efficient operation of the system. Additionally, any links leading from the Brookdale website to commercial entities, or to any sites other than educational non profits related to student success, must be approved by the Office of the President and College Relations. No official Brookdale materials or communications will be hosted offsite/off the College servers.

E. Online Courseware

College Relations will work in cooperation with the TLC and faculty to ensure that the website provides ease of use for students using web-based courseware and course management systems.

F. Regulation Resources

Resources on the cited standards and guidelines, including but not limited to ADA compliance, FERPA, and copyright may be found here:

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: College Regulation 6.1504R, Release of Academic and Demographic Data About Students

US Department of Education’s FERPA Information Page

ADA Compliance: College Regulation 6.1004R, Provision of Reasonable Accommodation

The Web Accessibility Initiative

Copyright: Brookdale Policy 2.9000R Computer Resources, Network and Facilities Use

United States Copyright Office

G. Responsibility for Regulation

On behalf of the President, the Executive Director of College Relations working with the Director of the TLC will be responsible for the College community’s adherence to all of the components of this regulation.


Approved: 12/5/06