Spartans,
With the start of a full semester spent teleworking and teleworking, I want to let you know about what we’re doing to prevent Zoom Bombing at SJSU. Zoom Bombing, the practice of “crashing” a zoom meeting or class, is something we’re taking very seriously. SJSU’s students deserve a safe virtual learning environment that fosters an open, interactive learning atmosphere.
Because this kind of action triggers serious repercussions in the traditional classroom setting, it will have similar repercussions in the virtual classroom. To some, Zoom Bombing may just seem like a prank, but it’s a malicious activity that disrupts the education environment. Unfortunately, Zoom Bombing is usually committed by individuals with authorized access to a session, rather than outside agents or someone sneaking in thanks to poorly configured security settings. We’ve enabled the option for Zoom hosts to require authentication for participants, a strong protection against potential Zoom Bombing.
Should a student participate in an activity that substantially and materially disrupts the normal operations and infringes on the educational rights of the community, the University may issue any of the following sanctions that it believes are proportional to the behavior: restitution; educational and remedial sanctions; disciplinary probation; suspension; and/or expulsion. Any reported instance of Zoom Bombing will be thoroughly investigated, and we’ll use all available power to ensure we identify bad actors.
To all of the tens of thousands of students who have made the transition to online learning and to all the thousands of faculty who are now instructing remotely, we’d like to thank you for helping foster a community of support throughout our now virtual university.
If you have any questions about Zoom Bombing or about our disciplinary policy, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Thank you,
Alexandra D. Froehlich, M.A.
Director of Student Conduct & Ethical Development
Deputy Title IX Coordinator
Hien Huynh
Information Security Officer
SJSU IT