This Agreement is between the Member as defined below and Grand River Solutions, Post Office Box 2049, Saratoga, California, 95070 (collectively The Parties). The Terms and Conditions are binding upon all Members.
A “Member” of The River Connect is an individual who is affiliated with a public or private institution of post secondary or higher education, including proprietary, not-for-profit, and governmental, or non-accredited or seeking accreditation.
"Members” are individuals whose subscription to The River Connect is approved by Grand River Solutions, if required by this Agreement.
Pursuant to this Agreement, Grand River Solutions will provide the following services to Members.
Scope of Service:
Members will receive the following services as part of their membership:
One (1) individual membership to the River Connect,
Access to ongoing technical assistance, education, and engagement via training webinars, asynchronous recorded sessions, question and answer sessions, and discussion groups, and
Access to technical and guidance documents on issues of interest.
Eligibility for Membership:
The following types of institutions may join without prior review by Grand River Solutions: Public and private institutions of post secondary or higher education, including proprietary, not-for-profit, and governmental, or non-accredited or seeking accreditation.
Individuals may join without prior review by Grand River Solutions if they are currently an employee in good standing of any of an eligible institution as described above, and if the employee is tasked with sexual harassment compliance, prevention, and/or response, diversity, equity, and inclusion work, health promotions, human resources, counsel, or student affairs education.
Others not identified in this section may join with the advanced written approval of Grand River Solutions. Requests must be sent via email to [email protected].
Rules Concerning Membership:
All Members must be eligible institutional employees tasked with sexual harassment compliance, prevention, and/or response, diversity, equity, and inclusion work, health promotions, human resources, counsel, or student affairs education. Members must utilize an institutional email account and must be a member in good standing of an eligible institution.
Each Member will have their own unique login and identity to access services, and they may not allow other people to access or use their passwords or other access information.
All Members in good standing are eligible to access all content in River Connect with no extra charges and fees. Such content is Copyright © Grand River Solutions with all rights reserved, and may not be shared outside the River Connect without advanced written permission from Grand River Solutions, unless specifically marked as eligible for sharing (or similar language).
Subscription and Adherence to Agreement:
The Individual Member affirms that they have the authority to enter such an Agreement on behalf of their Institution and that their Institution is eligible to subscribe to this service. They affirm on behalf of their Institution that the Institution will comply with these Terms and Conditions.
Fees for Membership:
Membership for The River Connect is complimentary at this time.
Receipt of Official Notices:
Members will receive official notices to their institutional email account.
Engagement and Respect
Members have access to The River Connect for discussions, learning, and growth in this work. This is a managed community with the goal of raising the capacity, understanding, and skills of all members while treating each other with respect, and not excluding, harming, or diminishing any community member.
This is not a public forum or community bound by the requirements of the First Amendment. This is a private forum managed by a private organization. In general, Grand River Solutions highly values the substantive speech and participation of all members, including substantive disagreements on research, plans, programs, or related that raise important issues, surface different perspectives, and help us all grow in the work. Substantive statements, even when reflecting disagreement, are welcome to add to this knowledge base.
The community is not a place for general political discussion or off-topic content. Individuals of various political beliefs and all along the political spectrum are welcome to engage in the community content, and Members should be mindful that other Members may have very different political beliefs, but be equally dedicated to this important work. Political and off-topic content may be removed by Grand River Solutions at the sole discretion of Grand River Solutions.
Non-substantive statements or parts thereof that include insults, discriminatory statements that apply to a person or group of people on the basis of membership in a legally protected class or related characteristics, statements that show bias against a person or group based upon membership in a legally protected class or related characteristics, and harassing statements (including but not limited to sexual harassment) are not appropriate for this forum and will be removed. We encourage all members to flag or report inappropriate statements or posts (whether public or direct) that do (or may) violate these for review and action by Grand River Solutions.
Members may not post commercial, sales, or promotional content in the Community without the prior written permission of Grand River Solutions. In general, Grand River Solutions will allow posting of relevant trainings or materials that are provided by not-for-profit or government organizations and/or that are free or nominal cost. Any other promotional, sales, or commercial content will be removed and subject to the process for addressing content in violation of these guidelines.
Process for Addressing Content In Violation of these Guidelines
The first time a message, post, or other content is flagged and found to have violated the Terms (in the sole discretion of Grand River Solutions), the content will be removed and a notice and link to these Terms will be sent to the Member whose content was removed for their understanding moving forward. The second time a Member’s message, post, or other content is flagged and found to have violated the Terms (in the sole discretion of Grand River Solutions), the content will be removed and the Member’s account will be placed on hold until they can have a conversation with Grand River Solutions staff about the content and their membership going forward and Grand River Solutions is satisfied that the behavior will not continue. The third time that a message, post, or other content by a Member is flagged and found to have violated the Terms (in the sole discretion of Grand River Solutions), the content will be removed and the Member’s rights will be removed until further notice by Grand River Solutions. As a private community, all decisions on membership and access are in the sole discretion of Grand River Solutions.
Intellectual Property and License:
All content created by Grand River Solutions as part of the River Connect is Copyright © Grand River Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. License is granted to all Members in good standing to use the materials, concepts, and tools during their membership. Materials, including written, verbal, animated, and other modalities, whether distributed in print or digitally, may not be re-sold or re-licensed without the express written permission of Grand River Solutions. Grand River Solutions may specifically label certain resources or materials as shareable/customizable and shareable, in which case no additional permission is required. Although the content in The River Connect will not cover any of the required training elements under the 2020 United States Department of Education Title IX Final Rule, if there is a statutory or regulatory requirement to publish or share materials, Grand River Solutions will assist Members in meeting that obligation.
This community is a private forum. Every Member works for an institution that, in some form or another, benefits from the protections of intellectual property law, be that copyright, trademark, patent, or related. This community is the product of significant and continuing work by a group of people who are dedicated to the Members and their growth and success. Please respect the intellectual property of Grand River Solutions, the team that put this together, and the Members who contribute to the community, by not violating the terms of your Membership, including by not sharing your login or password, sharing content without permission, or otherwise giving a non-Member access to River Connect. We recognize that many people want high quality content to be more accessible or accessible to all. We have committed to making this community accessible. The cost of membership supports access to the various platforms and technology used to maintain and secure the community, as well as towards research and new content development.
Compliance, Governing Law, and Venue:
Parties shall comply with applicable federal, state, and local law. The laws of the United States and the State of California shall govern this Agreement without regard to choice of law principles. The parties agree to attempt to resolve any dispute arising under this Agreement amicably and privately. If the Parties are unable to resolve the dispute within thirty (30) days, either Party may request a thirty (30) day extension which shall be reasonably granted. If the Parties are still unable to resolve the dispute, the Parties agree to binding arbitration via JAMS at its then prevailing rate, with each party covering its costs.
In the case Arbitration fails or law or regulation prohibits the use of Arbitration in a specific instance or with specific Institutional Members, the Parties agree to bring any action to construe, interpret, or enforce this Agreement in a California court of competent jurisdiction located within 100 miles of the City of San Francisco, California. The Parties agree to submit themselves to such jurisdiction.
In the case of a public institution or a government agency that may not by law agree to jurisdiction and choice of law, this Agreement is considered silent on choice of law and governing law and will be subject to relevant choice of law principles.
Waiver:
Any provision of this Agreement may be waived by mutual written consent of the Parties, however, any single waiver shall not constitute a requirement that the same waiver be agreed to in the future for that Party or another Party.
Severability and Enforcement:
If any paragraph or part of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable, illegal, or invalid for any reason, such unenforceability, illegality, or invalidity shall not affect the remainder of the Agreement which shall remain in place, unless it prevents the accomplishment of the objectives and purposes of the Agreement. In the event a paragraph or part of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable, illegal, or invalid for any reason, the parties will negotiate in good faith to find a mutually agreeable replacement that may be enforced and generally accomplishes the same goals as the original provision.
Liability and Indemnification:
Each party to this Agreement is liable for the acts of its employees and Members within the course and scope of their employment/membership. The liability of Grand River Solutions is limited to the annual fee paid by the Individual or Institutional Member or its insurance policy limits if awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction or Arbitrator.
Amendments:
These Terms and Conditions may be amended on occasion. Non-material changes will be posted to the Grand River Solutions website. Material changes will be delivered electronically or by mail to Members in good standing.
Grand River Solutions has a policy of not sharing, releasing or selling private information, including and similar to the Individual Member’s name, home address, telephone number (office, home, or mobile), and e-mail address to individuals or organizations outside of Grand River Solutions except as noted below.
Members have control and responsibility for their personal information which they may submit or update through the website. The Member, through the website, can determine what information is and is not available to other Members. Members should assume that information that they post (including text, video, and other related content) is available and visible to other Members with the ability to access and review that information. Grand River Solutions cannot keep Members from sharing or using information outside of the system in violation of these Terms and Conditions by, among other things, photographing, screenshotting, or copying content. The content and submissions posted to or shared with the community are not the individual property of the person or persons who post and may remain on the community even after their membership or designation as an Institutional User ends. Grand River Solutions will generally not delete user generated information unless it violates our policies, or is no longer current or of value or use to members of the community.
Members are responsible for protecting their account credentials, using complex and non-repeated passwords, maintaining the security of their devices, and notifying Grand River Solutions of a breach under which an unauthorized person, persons, or organization(s) may have access to their password or other relevant information.
Grand River Solutions will share and provide information to our vendors through which we operate The River Connect solely for the purpose of operating the community and serving the content to members. This includes the portal and any services used to communicate or do business Members. Each such organization will maintain its own privacy and data use policy and may be contacted directly with questions.
Grand River Solutions and its vendor and business partners may place cookies on the session or sessions of Members for the purpose of recognizing and logging in Members to the community, and bringing them to appropriate content. A cookie is a text file placed in the browser. Members may adjust their cookie settings through their browser or operating system.
Grand River Solutions is not responsible for the content of external sites that are linked to from the community or otherwise made reference to in the community. Users are advised to read the privacy policy of such external sites before disclosing information.
Grand River Solutions is a private company and is not bound by public and government agency sunshine laws or open meeting or information laws. It will not share the content of posts or communications unless required to do so by law, such as a lawfully issued criminal or civil subpoena, a lawful order from a government agency, or to investigate a possible crime (including but not limited to fraud or identity theft). In certain cases, information may be released as part of enforcing the Terms and Conditions of this service or to protect the rights and safety of the community and Institutional and Individual Members. Unless ordered otherwise, Grand River Solutions will provide notice to the Member for whom information is required. Please note that, while Grand River Solutions is not subject to these information sharing laws, other Members who work at public or government organizations may be, and they may share some content of others in being responsive to a request under one of those laws. Grand River Solutions does not have control over Members’ compliance with such laws.
Grand River Solutions does not solicit for membership any individual under age 18. If an individual under age 18 wishes to join as a Member, the Institutional Member must reach out to Grand River Solutions. Grand River Solutions does not solicit for membership anyone under the age of 13 and no one under the age of 13 may participate as a Member or share any private or confidential information through the community or any system of Grand River Solutions.