To: OSU Community Members
From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President
April 2, 2020
Dear OSU community members,
You may have heard about -- or already experienced in your classes or meetings -- a national trend known as "Zoombombing." This is an act where malicious individuals join a Zoom meeting and interject content that is vulgar, discriminatory or personally upsetting.
We are appalled and disappointed that these intrusions and behaviors have occurred this week in some Oregon State University classes and meetings utilizing Zoom. Such acts do not align with OSU’s commitment to providing a welcoming, safe and supportive environment for all members of our community to learn and work.
If you deliver classes or hold meetings using Zoom, please review immediately the Zoom Security Guide from the Office of Information Security. The guide shows you how to protect and control your Zoom sessions so others are prevented from joining and disrupting your activities. Please note that OSU employees delivering classes or conducting meetings within Zoom are expected to utilize all available security options in order to prevent abuse. Please take action now to understand and implement Zoom’s security settings.
I can assure you that the university is investigating all reported instances of Zoombombing to determine, where possible, who has committed these acts. If committed by OSU students, such acts may violate the OSU Code of Student Conduct, and those students will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. If employee behavior is in question, please report such matters to OSU Employee and Labor Relations.
If you have questions about this matter, or wish to report an incident, please contact the Service Desk at is.oregonstate.edu/help or 541-737-8787.
Thank you for your efforts to ensure a safe and productive university environment.
Sincerely,
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President