How To Use This Web Site

The CLIC Home page and web site is structured to find everything in our collection easily on the lefthand side of our home page by legal topic under "Choose Your Topic."

 

Selecting "CLIC Home" on the top Menu Bar always takes you back to our Home Page. You can access our occasional online newsletter "CUACounselOnline" on the right hand side of CLIC Home. The other choices on the menu bar across the top of CLIC Home (CLIC Home, Text Only, Fedlaw, DClaw, Compliance Calendar, etc.) are explained below.

Using the "Choose Your Topic" buttons on the left side of the page.
Accessing the "CUA CounselOnline" newsletter on the right side of the page.
Using the "Menu Bar" at the top of CLIC Home.

Choose Your Topic

The more than 10 major topics listed on the left side of our home page under "Choose Your Topic" are the legal topic areas that are most frequently accessed on our page, listed generally in order of frequency of use, "ADA Compliance" for example being the most used area of our page. When you click a topic, a sub-menu opens up on the left under that topic, consisting of five categories of materials in which you might find materials - including those contributed to CLIC by other institutions - on your topic. There may be a few sub-menus which have no materials listed.  CLIC attempts to collect and post only high quality materials that have fairly general applicability as models for most institutions. Those five categories are consistent under each topic and attempt to group information by the form of the material. The five sub-categories are:

"Quick Clicks" - This is an effort at a "plain English" summary of the law or regulations on a particular topic. Aimed at non-lawyer administrators, managers and faculty, it is meant to provide an overview of the law's basic provisions on a particular topic. In most cases, it is not an exhaustive or detailed description of every aspect of a law or compliance regulation.

Click Here to see an example of a "Quick Click" on Copyright law.

 

"Fedlaw" - When opened under one of these major topics, "Fedlaw" takes the user to a more legally oriented and often more detailed abstract of the various Federal statutes that we've identified as having major applicability under that particular topic. "Fedlaw" is also where we keep short summaries of major recent court decisions that we think are important to the topic. Our case listings are not exhaustive by any means.

Click Here to see an example of "Fedlaw" for FERPA .

 

"Publications, Video & Web Tutorials" is just what it says: it links you to any publication (e.g., newsletter, pamphlet, brochure, etc.), web-based video or web tutorial (e.g., a Power Point training presentation) that Catholic University's Office of General Counsel has produced or that has been contributed by some other college or university. It usually includes any articles or interviews on the particular topic that we have written for our newsletter CUACounselOnline. These articles are aimed at providing information to faculty and staff in an easily readable, casual format.

Click Here to see an example of "Publications, Video and Web Tutorials" for Copyright law.

 

"Q & A" puts basic information on a topic into a question and answer format, grouped together as much as possible to reflect major sub-headings of a law or regulation. Q & A often contains answers to practical, real-life questions about the application of federal law on campus.

Click Here to see an example of "Q & A" on FERPA.

 

"Resources, Forms and Checklists" contains links to other helpful websites on a particular topic. It also includes any sample Forms (for example, a sample letter requesting permission to use copyrighted material or a sample letter for a student to authorize release of education records) and any Checklists that we've developed at The Catholic University of America or that have been contributed by other institutions.

Click Here to see an example of a Checklist on the Americans With Disabilities Act.

 

"Archived 'What's New' Items" - This page contains a list and links to the current web location of the "What's New" items that previously appeared under  the blue flash headings in the upper right hand corner of the main page but have been moved out of the "What's New" category as time passed. There is a gap in these materials between July 2002 and April 2003 due to reconstruction of our web page.

Click Here to see Archived What's New Items

If you don't see the topic you're looking for among these major topics, contact us and we can help you determine whether there's information on your topic somewhere on our page. You can also use the "Search Our Website" function on the lower left of the CLIC home page.  Note that the "Choose Your Topic" menu always stays open on the left hand side of all pages in our web site, so you can always switch easily to another topic.

 

"CUACounselOnline" - A current article from this occasional electronic newsletter, written in an easy to read style, is found on the right hand side of CLIC Home. The full newsletter is accessed by clicking on the folded-back corner at the top right of the article that says "CUA's CounselOnline." The newsletter is aimed at helping faculty and staff understand the applicability of current federal regulations and selected court decisions to the campus and classroom setting. Most issues feature an interview with someone who has recognized expertise on one or more timely legal issues. We also use it as a way to introduce key members of CUA's "legal compliance team" to our broader faculty and staff audience. All previous articles are archived by topic on CUACounselOnline and also usually linked under Choose Your Topic.

 

"Menu Bar" choices - The light green Menu Bar just below the row of pictures at the top of CLIC Home provides seven links to different parts of our CLIC that contain finding tools to help navigate the site, that link directly to major information such as "Fedlaw" and "Links", or that provide a direct connection to the CUA Office of General Counsel. Menu Bar choices include:

"Fedlaw" as noted above, is our more legally oriented and often more detailed abstract of the various Federal statutes that we've identified as having major applicability under that particular topic. Fedlaw in some cases includes short summaries of major recent court decisions that we think are important to a topic, although the case listings are not exhaustive. Fedlaw contains the statutory, Federal Register or Code of Federal Regulations citations to more than 150 different federal statutes that we think have some applicability to higher education. We attempt to write a brief summary of the law, and include any recent changes in regulations that have come to our attention. Fedlaw includes an easy to use "A-Z" index of statutes; a "Table of Cases" listing in alphabetical order all cases noted in our Fedlaw summaries; and access to a listing of federal statutes by topic.

 

"Compliance Calendar" is at present, a simple text document listing all of the dates that we were able to find in various federal regulations on which compliance documents are due or compliance steps are to be completed. Most of the dates are recurring - the calendar is not intended to be a site to find every new or forthcoming implementation date.

 

"Links" is a shortcut to a listing of helpful links we have found, arranged here by category such as Higher Education Law, Federal Law, Federal Agencies, Reference, Courts, Training Materials, etc.

 

"Site Map" is an alternative means of navigation throughout our website.

 

"CLIC Home" simply takes you back to our front page.

 

"Text-Only" is intended to provide access to our page to persons with certain disabilities.  Clicking here takes you to a version of the page without graphics.  To return to the version of our page that is text plus graphics, click on "To Standard Version" on the top righthand side of the Text Only page.

 

"DCLaw" is likely only of interest to CUA and perhaps the legal counsel at the other higher education institutions in the District of Columbia. It is, similar to Fedlaw, a summary of the provisions of District of Columbia law that we think are most applicable to colleges and universities located in D.C.











links updated 7/3/08 rab