Web Administration: Policies/Guidelines

Corporate Support

Recognizing Corporate Supporters on the Web (revised 3/20/01)

The University of Florida recognizes the importance of its supporters in furthering the academic and athletic programs of the University. We recognize these supporters through the naming of spaces, programs or professorships, recognition in UF Foundation publications, or through other visible indications of our appreciation for contributions to the University's mission. The increase in traffic on University Web space has created additional opportunities to recognize those individuals and businesses that support this University in a substantial way.

Purpose of Guidelines

The purpose of these guidelines is to recognize University supporters on University and Unit Web space without overly commercializing the University and Unit home pages. These guidelines do not address advertising on University Web space, which is governed by the University's Guidelines on Advertising on University Web Space. Recognition of corporate support differs from advertising in that it is not designed to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised. Types of Web space:
University Web space is defined as any space within the ufl.edu domain, which includes the UF Home Page and its supporting pages. Unit Web space includes all sub domains within ufl.edu Web space under the control of the University or its affiliated entities. For more information on the ufl.edu domain, please refer to the UF Domain Name Policy.

General Guidelines

University-Wide Relationship - In the case of a University-wide relationship, the UF Home Page (www.ufl.edu) can have a text link entitled "University of Florida Supporters" that connects to a second level page. This page can include each Supporter's name, a static logo, a short factual description of the Supporter's relationship with the University, and a link to the Supporter's home page.

Unit Relationship - In the case of a Unit relationship, the Unit home page can contain an area entitled "Support provided to this College by:" that includes each Supporter's name, a static logo and a link to the Supporter's home page. Note: At either the University or Unit level, links may only point to the Supporter's home page or a page developed specifically for its supporter relationship with the University. Links to retail pages other than the Supporter's home page are not allowed.

Additional Guidelines

  1. Eligibility for designation as a University Supporter requires that the Supporter provide significant support to the University-wide mission, as determined by the President or his designee.
  2. Eligibility for designation as a Unit Supporter requires that the Supporter provide significant support to the Unit, as determined by the Unit administrator, subject to these guidelines.
  3. Supporters that contract with the University for goods or services do not qualify for recognition as University Supporters solely by virtue of the contract.
  4. University Supporters will be identified on the University or Unit pages only for the period during which the Supporter provides a level of support, which in the opinion of the President or his designee, or in the case of Unit pages, the Unit administrator, warrants presence on the Supporter's page. Only a small portion of the area of any unit home page may be dedicated to recognizing corporate supporters as determined by the President or his designee.
  5. Links to corporate sites necessary and useful for University work such as search engines, portal sites, publishers, booksellers and technical support for computing resources, may appear on any Web page where appropriate, with logos and links to the resources involved. However, no promotional statements may be associated with such links.
  6. All proposed University or Unit Supporters must be reviewed by the UF Foundation prior to inclusion on a Web page. Units interested should contact Carter Boydstun, cboydstun@uff.ufl.edu or 392-5472.
  7. Questions and suggestions for improvement of these guidelines should be directed to the UF Web Administrator (webmaster@ufl.edu) who maintains the clearinghouse for University Web space. Policy approved by the Office of the President on August 3, 1998, revised March 20, 2001.

Advertising on University Webspace (revised 3/20/01)

Advertising consists of techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised. Advertising differs from the recognition of University Supporters in that it may contain promotional information about a person or entity's product, services or facilities that goes beyond mere acknowledgment of support to the University. Because of the numerous business, legal and policy issues that arise in connection with the sale of advertising on university web space, only the following units of the university may place advertising on their web pages:

All advertising must be approved in advance by the President or his designee(s).
All contracts for advertising must be non-exclusive, no more than one year in duration, and approved by the University's Office of General Counsel or, in the case of the UF Foundation, the Foundation's legal staff.

These guidelines do not address treatment of University Supporters which is discussed in the University's policy for Recognizing University Supporters on the Web. Policy approved by the Office of the President on August 3, 1998, revised April 11, 2000 and March 20, 2001.

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