Cellphone and Smartphone Policy

Last Updated: 8/11/2017

Purpose:
To provide guidance to departments and employees who have wireless devices, including cellphones or smartphones which are provided to them by New York University.

Scope:
This policy applies to anyone currently using a University-owned cellphone/smartphone paid for by New York University.

Policy:
All cellphone and smartphone requests require the pre-approval of Howard Hutchinson, Director of FAS Computing and Information Technology (CIT) and the Joseph Wright, Senior Director of FAS Fiscal Affairs. For administrative staff, the request must also be approved by the employee’s supervisor.  For faculty, the request must be approved by the department chair.  If an NYU IT Mobile form is used to request the phone, Joseph Wright must sign as the Budget Officer.  The department chair must sign as the Dean/Department Chair.

The University will not pay for any mobile phone device or service that has not been approved by FAS Fiscal and CIT.

  1. All mobile phone devices paid for by University funds are recommended to be purchased through NYU IT mobile.

  2. Only iPhone and Android smartphones are supported by FAS/CIT.  Further, it must be a phone purchased through NYU IT mobile (it.mobile@nyu.edu) to receive support. 
    Phone purchasers are requested to set up the phone using the ITS instructions.  For iPhones, the instructions are at NYU Email: Setting up iOS device. For Android devices, the instructions are at NYU Google Apps: Setting up an Android Device. If you have problems, FAS/CIT will provide support in the initial setup of the phones to the NYU mail and calendar system. FAS/CIT will not set up the phones to sync with other software packages.

  3. It is the responsibility of the mobile phone user to protect any sensitive information that may be stored or accessed via the device. For guidelines, please refer to New York University’s policy on the responsible use of computers and data (http://www.nyu.edu/its/policies/responsibleuse.html).

  4. Any cellphone or smartphone that is lost or stolen must be reported. The user must inform the department and a report should be filed with NYU’s Office of Public Safety.  
    If an employee leaves the University, the department must collect the cellphone or smartphone and turn the device and charger over to FAS-CIT where all data will be cleaned off the phone. If an employee no longer wishes to use an NYU purchased cell phone or smartphone please contact FAS/CIT at fas.computing@nyu.edu so that they can collect it, and after a two-week waiting period they will destroy the data on it.   

  5. All employees that have a New York University-owned cell phone must abide by all local and state laws governing the usage of these devices while driving. (http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html)

Policy Authors:

FAS Fiscal Affairs – Joseph Wright
FAS Office of Computing and Information Technology – Howard Hutchinson

Date:  March 22, 2011
Revised: December 8, 2011
Revised: August 11, 2017