violation of University policies/procedures ???

[matthew77]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I am a student at University of South Florida in Tampa. I have started an open forum for the nursing students to meet, ask advice ect. I sent out an email to all the nursing student notifying them of the new site. Today I received an email from the school, I have been unable to locate the policy they are referring to. I will not use the school email as requested. Other than that, I am not sure how to respond. I dont want to get into any legal trouble. I also do not feel comfortable identifying myself to them as I do not feel that I would necessarily be treated fairly. Would I be safe to email back and request a copy and reference of the policy and ask what changes they would like made to the site? Should I ignore this as there is no policy identified that I am violating.
I am not making any money on the site and wish for it to exist to be a service to the nursing students. Any advice would be very much appreciated.


Here is the email I received today which was a reply to the email I sent out;

Dear site administrator: Although I applaud the initiative of setting up a forum for students to discuss issues. As an officer of the University of South Florida I must warn you that your site is in violation of University policies/procedures concerning the use of the Universities name for private endeavors. I would ask that you voluntarily change the name to remove reference as a USF affiliated site, or an affiliate of the USF College of Nursing immediately, and please stop using college of nursing list serves to market this to USF Nursing students.

If you are indeed a USF Nursing student (your actual name and contact information are not available on the site), and would like to discuss acceptable venues for doing something similar within our accepted procedure I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the options. In the meantime please immediately either remove all references to the University of South Florida and our Nursing program, or close the site until acceptable modifications have been made.

Director, Communications and Marketing

College of Nursing





From: Admin USFNursingForum [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 3:46 PM
To: List: CON Student List (constu)
Subject: New forum for nursing students



Hello, I am a nursing student at USF. Not living near campus, I felt quite isolated in the program (I couldn't convince any of my friends to join me on this adventure). Recently I have started reaching out to fellow nursing students and recent graduates for suggestions and support. I also realized that I have already taken some classes and can provide assitance to students preparing to take those classes. They too have questions, just like I have, about upcoming classes, books and professors.

I have created a forum where we can meet each other, ask for and give advice. The forum is completely separate from USF, a place for students to meet students. This is a place where we can share our insights and discuss our experiences.

It is a simple forum specifically for USF students. You can ask a question, subscribe to the thread and receive notices when people reply to your questions. I know the last thing we have is spare time, but being able to get the "inside scoop" will be worth the few extra minutes a week.

Check it out at University of South Florida Nursing School Forum • Index page
I would love feed-back, sign up and tell me what you think-
Best of luck to you all in your endeavors,

admin@usfnursingforums

 

[Kiawah]

Why don't you just have a facebook group? That's what is pretty common practice in the University scenes.

 

[Perky]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I am a student at University of South Florida in Tampa. I have started an open forum for the nursing students to meet, ask advice ect. I sent out an email to all the nursing student notifying them of the new site. Today I received an email from the school, I have been unable to locate the policy they are referring to. I will not use the school email as requested. Other than that, I am not sure how to respond. I dont want to get into any legal trouble. I also do not feel comfortable identifying myself to them as I do not feel that I would necessarily be treated fairly. Would I be safe to email back and request a copy and reference of the policy and ask what changes they would like made to the site? Should I ignore this as there is no policy identified that I am violating.
I am not making any money on the site and wish for it to exist to be a service to the nursing students. Any advice would be very much appreciated.


Here is the email I received today which was a reply to the email I sent out;

Dear site administrator: Although I applaud the initiative of setting up a forum for students to discuss issues. As an officer of the University of South Florida I must warn you that your site is in violation of University policies/procedures concerning the use of the Universities name for private endeavors. I would ask that you voluntarily change the name to remove reference as a USF affiliated site, or an affiliate of the USF College of Nursing immediately, and please stop using college of nursing list serves to market this to USF Nursing students.

If you are indeed a USF Nursing student (your actual name and contact information are not available on the site), and would like to discuss acceptable venues for doing something similar within our accepted procedure I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the options. In the meantime please immediately either remove all references to the University of South Florida and our Nursing program, or close the site until acceptable modifications have been made.

Director, Communications and Marketing

College of Nursing





From: Admin USFNursingForum [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 3:46 PM
To: List: CON Student List (constu)
Subject: New forum for nursing students



Hello, I am a nursing student at USF. Not living near campus, I felt quite isolated in the program (I couldn't convince any of my friends to join me on this adventure). Recently I have started reaching out to fellow nursing students and recent graduates for suggestions and support. I also realized that I have already taken some classes and can provide assitance to students preparing to take those classes. They too have questions, just like I have, about upcoming classes, books and professors.

I have created a forum where we can meet each other, ask for and give advice. The forum is completely separate from USF, a place for students to meet students. This is a place where we can share our insights and discuss our experiences.

It is a simple forum specifically for USF students. You can ask a question, subscribe to the thread and receive notices when people reply to your questions. I know the last thing we have is spare time, but being able to get the "inside scoop" will be worth the few extra minutes a week.

Check it out at University of South Florida Nursing School Forum • Index page
I would love feed-back, sign up and tell me what you think-
Best of luck to you all in your endeavors,

admin@usfnursingforums

Do the bolded, and also stop using the university email list to invite students. The name of your forum suggests that it's connected to the university, and it's not.

 

[The Occultist]

What you're running into is a violation of Trademark. You are not allowed in any way to make people believe there is a connection between the mark-holder and yourself. If you feel you are in the right, then retain an attorney immediately to defend yourself in the imminent lawsuit.

 

[matthew77]

I have done some research and this is what I've come up with...
I can understanding not using a trade mark in the URL, as far as what is written about in the forum, that should be unrestricted. I should be able to use the words "University of South Florida" in identifying a forum within the site. I have removed those words from the top of the index page as someone could say it is confusing.
As far as using "usf" in the URL, I don't know how they can clam those initials as there is also a University of San Fransisco that uses the same initials. But to be safe, I am getting a new URL, www.nursingschoolforums.com, this has no hint of a specific school in it. I will then have a forum within the site for University of South Florida, University of Tampa, ect ect.
Is my plan right on... or am I missing something ??