How can we help?

Privacy Policy

It is the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia that personal information about citizens will be collected only to the extent necessary to provide the service or benefit desired; that only appropriate information will be collected; that the citizen shall understand the reason the information is collected and be able to examine their personal record which is maintained by a public body.

This website:

  1. May collect one or more of the following pieces of self-provided personal information: your email address, name and phone number. Any of this information is collected to meet your specific online requests. If you choose not to provide this personal information, you will be unable to receive some of the services this Web site offers.
  2. May collect your IP address, pages browsed, and date and time of your visit. This information is used for internal College statistical purposes only.
  3. May use or allow third party use of cookies (i.e., files which may contain a variety of information) on some Web pages or to track movement on the site.
  4. May link to other Web sites that may or may not collect data that does not have a relationship to the College through using cookies. You should check for a privacy policy on the linked Web page.

Safeguards any information gathered in compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and does not supply any gathered information to other individuals or organizations, except in compliance with those laws.

Security Statement

Mountain Gateway Community College ensures the integrity of our systems and that the data we store is protected. The college has gone beyond industry standards to protect our systems by using firewalls, IDS/ISP devices, NAC protection, requiring authentication (systems, networks and data), requiring encryption of all sensitive data and applying all physical security possible. We perform monitoring of all systems and networks; employ the latest Anti-virus / Anti Spam protection, and performing audits of all systems and networks. We instill the concept of security and data protection in everything we do including our day to day business practices; new systems, network and building designs; and as a overall part of the colleges desire to keep our environment and data safe and private.

Acceptable Use

The following standards shall govern the use of all VCCS information technology resources:

  1. All users of MGCC IT resources must adhere to Virginia Department of Human Resource Management Policy 1.75 – Use of Internet and Electronic Communication Systems.
  2. You must use only those computer resources that you have the authority to use. You must not provide false or misleading information to gain access to computing resources. The VCCS may regard these actions as criminal acts and may treat them accordingly. You must not use VCCS IT resources to gain unauthorized access to computing resources of other institutions, organizations, individuals, etc.
  3. Local Administrator rights, or the equivalent on non-Microsoft Windows-based IT systems shall be limited to only authorized IT staff as appropriate to prevent users from:
    • Installing or using proprietary encryption hardware/software on VCCS systems;
    • Tampering with security controls configured on their workstations;
    • Installing personal software on a VCCS system;
    • Adding hardware to, removing hardware from, or modifying hardware on a VCCS system and;
    • Connecting non-VCCS owned devices to a VCCS IT system or network such as personal computers, laptops, or hand held devices, except in accordance with the COV ITRM Use of non-Commonwealth Computing Devices to Telework Standard (SEC511-00).
  4. You must use your computer resources only for authorized purposes. Students or staff, for example, may not use their accounts for private consulting or to support a personal business venture. You must not use your computer resources for unlawful purposes, such as the installation of fraudulently or illegally obtained software. Use of external networks connected to any VCCS facility must comply with the policies of acceptable use promulgated by the organizations responsible for those networks
  5. Peer-to-Peer file sharing (P2P) is prohibited on the campus network. P2P applications are considered a high security risk because they use direct communications between computers (or “peers”) to share or transfer data. They require client software to be installed and, by so doing, expose the network to a number of risks. Security flaws in P2P applications may provide attackers with ways to crash computers, access confidential information, or infect the entire network. In addition, P2P applications can consume large amounts of bandwidth that are reserved for academic and administrative purposes and are, therefore, considered network abuse. Users of the MGCC network may not use peer-to-peer file sharing programs, including, but not limited to, Limewire, eDonkey, KaZaA, Gnutella, Morpheus, Audiogalaxy, WinMX and BitTorrent. For the purposes of this policy, a Peer-to-peer file sharing application is any application that transforms a personal computer into a server that distributes data simultaneously to other computers. Please note that copyrighted materials cannot be shared by any means without proper permission. This includes sharing via network file shares, the web, or any other means and is not limited to peer-to-peer programs. Peer-to-Peer files sharing programs run on any Mountain Gateway Community College computer can be traced back to the source by external Agencies. By using a MGCC computer for this purpose, the user is therefore making the College liable.
  6. Other than material known to be in the public domain, you must not access, alter, copy, move or remove information, proprietary software or other files (including programs, members of subroutine libraries, data and electronic mail) without prior authorization.
  7. The data owner, data custodian, security officer, appropriate college official or other responsible party may grant authorization to use electronically stored materials in accordance with policies, copyright laws and procedures.
  8. You must not distribute or disclose third party proprietary software without prior authorization from the licenser. You must not install proprietary software on systems not properly licensed for its use.
  9. You must not use any computing facility irresponsibly or needlessly affect the work of others. This includes transmitting or making accessible offensive, annoying or harassing material. This includes intentionally, recklessly, or negligently damaging systems, intentionally damaging or violating the privacy of information not belonging to you. This includes the intentional misuse of resources or allowing misuse of resources by others. This includes loading software or data from untrustworthy sources, such as free-ware, onto official systems without prior approval.
  10. You should report any violation of these regulations by another individual and any information relating to a flaw or bypass of computing facility security to the Information Security Office or the Internal Audit department.
  11. You must not use the Commonwealth’s Internet access or electronic communication in cases where it:
    • interferes with the user’s productivity or work performance, or with any other employee’s productivity or work performance;
    • adversely affects the efficient operation of the computer system;
    • results in any personal gain or profit to the user
    • violates any provision of this policy, any supplemental policy adopted by the agency supplying the Internet or electronic communication systems, or any other policy, regulation, law or guideline as set forth by local, State or Federal law. (See Code of Virginia §2.1-804-805; §2.2-2827 as of October 1, 2001.)
    • The transmission of unencrypted sensitive data over the Internet is prohibited and requires the written authorization of the President of the College.

Note: Any user of VCCS IT resources employing the Commonwealth’s Internet or electronic communication systems for personal use must present their communications in such a way as to be clear that the communication is personal and is not a communication of the agency or the Commonwealth.

Site Disclaimer

Mountain Gateway Community College (the college) provides its Website, catalog, handbooks and any other printed materials or electronic media for your general guidance. The college does not guarantee that the information contained within them, including, but not limited to, the contents of any page that resides under the DNS (Domain Name Services) registrations of Mountain Gateway Community College is up-to-date, complete and accurate, and individuals assume any risks associated with relying upon such information without checking other credible sources, such as a student’s academic advisor. In addition, a student’s or prospective student’s reliance upon information contained within these sources, or individual program catalogs or handbooks, when making academic decisions does not constitute, and should not be construed as, a contract with the college. Further, the college reserves the right to make changes to any provision or requirement within these sources, as well as changes to any curriculum or program, whether during a student’s enrollment or otherwise.

Links or references to other materials and Websites provided in the above-referenced sources are also for information purposes only and do not constitute the college’s endorsement of products or services referenced.