Guests and Visitors to campus may use the Oberlin College network. A "Sponsored Account" account is required to gain access. Sponsored Accounts are accounts issued in order for guests and visitors to have access to the Oberlin College network.  All Oberlin College account holders - faculty, staff, and students - have the ability to create sponsored accounts.

A Sponsored Account essentially has Internet access only (it is not designed to be an email account for a visitor) and the holder using a personal computer attached to the College's network will need to reauthenticate to the network daily by launching a web browser and following the stated instructions. It will be the responsibility of the Oberlin College account holder who creates the sponsored account to vouch for the identity of the person who is to use the account and to ensure that individual's compliance with the Oberlin College Policy for the Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources.

To create a Sponsored Account:

Oberlin College account holders - faculty, staff, and students - must authenticate via a secure web page (click on link in box above) using their own ObieID (email) account information. They will then have the ability to see their existing sponsored accounts, as well as to create and delete accounts.

The web page for creating accounts is available to ON-CAMPUS users and off-campus VPN users, and will time-out after 15 minutes of inactivity. A person can create up to six (6) Sponsored Accounts, each of which will remain active for up to five (5) days.  The guest Sponsored Account will be generated automatically and will be available for use as soon as it has been created by the sponsor.

Increased Capabilities:

There may be cases for which the sponsored person needs the account to last longer than 5 days (e.g., a visiting faculty member), or the Oberlin sponsor needs to create more than 6 accounts at one time. To increase the number of sponsored accounts one can create, or the maximum number of days for any specific sponsored account, Oberlin College personnel should send an email request, stating the requirement for the increase, to cit@oberlin.edu.

Sponsored Account Passwords:

The Oberlin College sponsor who creates the account will determine the password and it cannot be changed.  If a password has been forgotten or needs to be changed, the account will need to be deleted and reissued.  A password must have at least 6 characters, must use only letters and numbers, and must have at least one uppercase letter and at least one lowercase letter.

Account Expiration:

After expiration, Sponsored Accounts will be automatically deleted at set times.  The account will appear usable until deletion.

Setting Up Sponsored Accounts

1. If you haven’t already read Oberlin College’s "Policy for the Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources", please do so by visiting: http://www.oberlin.edu/cit/policies/acceptableuse.html

2. Click on this link.

3. Enter your ObieID (email username and password), and then click Submit.

4. To create a Sponsored Account: click the link entitled Click here to add a new account.

 

5. Enter the following in the Add a new sponsored account dialog box:

First name: first name of the individual being sponsored

Last name: last name of the individual being sponsored

Password: enter a password (minimum of 6 characters, with at least: one letter, one number, one uppercase, one lowercase)

Number of days: enter a numeral from 1 to 5 (default is 3)

 

6. Click Submit. A receipt is shown on a web page after adding an account.  This receipt can be printed and handed to the guest.

7. To delete the account, click the link delete, which appears in the Manage Accounts grid on the far right.

8. You will receive an acknowledgement that the account has been deleted.

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Sponsored Accounts FAQs:

1. Question: Some temporary employees, and others such as Shansi Visiting Scholars, are not given ObieIDs. What do they do?

   Answer:  If the person is just here for a few days, then a regular Oberlin College account holder (faculty, staff or student) can create a Sponsored Account.  If the person will be here much longer (e.g., all semester), you should contact the CIT Help Desk to request an updated allocation. To do so, send an e-mail to cit@oberlin.edu indicating the following: your contact information (e-mail address), the ObieID of the Sponsored Account, and the requested expiration date.

2. Question: I created a Sponsored Account, but I need it to last for more than 5 days. What can I do?

   Answer: If this is a one-time need, then send an e-mail request to cit@oberlin.edu, providing the information denoted in no. 1 above.