University Website Policy

The Rutgers University Website Policy governs all websites representing Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and any entities that conduct official university business or that provide official university information to its constituents. These include, but are not limited to, websites under the domain umbrella rutgers.edu.

Purpose

The Rutgers University Website Policy was created to:

Ensure that all websites representing Rutgers present a consistent, professional image of Rutgers and are accessible to those with disabilities, accurate, easy to find and navigate, and timely
Provide standards for use and content maintenance of websites that provide official university information to its constituents
Provide guidelines for website administration and management
Establish an Annual Website Certification by members of the Rutgers Administrative Council
Define the process for the assignment of domain names for Rutgers websites

Domains Governed by the Policy

The university’s rutgers.edu domain is a valuable asset of the institution, and all websites falling under that domain umbrella (i.e., any website that uses a web address that includes “.rutgers.edu” in its name, such as admissions.rutgers.edu or communications.rutgers.edu) are governed by this policy.

This policy also applies to rutgers.com, rutgers.org, rutgers.info, and all other domain categories of websites that represent any entity of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and that provide official university information to its constituents (i.e., cinj.org).

Exceptions to the Policy

This policy is not intended to affect the activities of faculty members and their freedom to conduct and share research and other academic and scholarly work.

This policy is not intended to affect student organization websites.

Website Content Requirements

In order to meet required standards and criteria, all official Rutgers websites must:

Include an official Rutgers logotype at the top of each webpage
Include the full name of the university—Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey—on each page, preferably in the footer at the bottom of the page
Include an easy-to-find link to rutgers.edu in the top section of the homepage. See examples.
Provide a link to the universitywide search function, search.rutgers.edu
Include a clear way to contact the responsible unit on all top-level pages
Include in the footer
- A link to the universitywide homepage—rutgers.edu
- The university accessibility statement: Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any accessibility issues with Rutgers websites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier / Provide Feedback Form.
- The university copyright: © 20XX Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Website Content Standards

All Rutgers websites must:

Be accurate and be updated on a regular basis
- Content should be reviewed each semester
- Sites should be routinely checked for broken links
- Unpublish out-of-date content, including documents that are no longer relevant
- Add and delete people from directories as appropriate
Comply with the following university policies:

Annual Website Certification by Administrative Leaders

The members of the Rutgers Administrative Council must annually certify the websites within their areas of responsibility. Annual Website Certification is the online process through which units confirm that they have assessed their websites in accordance with the University Website Policy and have developed a remediation plan to address any categories that do not comply with the guidelines defined in the policy.

Certification is required for all Rutgers websites except: faculty personal webpages, individual faculty research websites, websites for faculty research labs, and student club/organization websites.

For additional information about the process, visit Website Certification.

Contact Us

If you have questions, email webintegrity@rutgers.edu.