Washington University in St. Louis is currently in the process of transitioning domains from wustl.edu to washu.edu. Users may see official university sites on both of these domains for the time being.

WashU Domain Name Policy

  1. OFFICIAL INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: Washington University in St. Louis is a tax-exempt educational institution that uses wustl.edu as its official Internet domain name.
  2. PROTECTED TRADE NAMES and TRADEMARKS: “Washington University in St. Louis” and “wustl.edu” are registered trade names of the university. The university also protects a number of nicknames, such as “Wash. U.” and “Bears.” The university aggressively polices its trade names, trademarks and nicknames. Unless the university in its discretion has given its advance written consent:
    • University trade names, trademarks, nicknames, symbols, logos or images are not permitted to appear on third-party websites or other third-party communications (see section 5); and
    • Individuals or organizations obtaining their own domain name are not permitted to select names that are confusingly similar to trademarks or trade names of the university
  3. DOMAIN NAME USE BY UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY: All services of and information about the university, and any of its schools, departments, divisions, centers, faculty, staff and fiscal and operating units posted on the Internet by members of the university community must use only the wustl.edu domain name for websites or other use of the Internet and may not obtain or operate under other domain names. Websites combining university entities in a wustl.edu domain name, such as library.wustl.edu, assemblyseries.wustl.edu and medschool.wustl.edu are permitted.
  4. NO THIRD-PARTY USE OF WUSTL.EDU: All services and information that are not within the official functions of the university may not use wustl.edu and must use a domain name other than wustl.edu. Trade names, trademarks, symbols, logos or other identities of third parties, including active links to .com, .tv, .biz, .net and other commercial websites, may not appear on any wustl.edu domain websites, unless prior written authorization is granted by WashU Marketing & Communications. The MarComm office will evaluate requests on a case-by-case basis to determine if any real, potential or perceived conflicts of interest may be present. If approved, any .com link or list of links must appear on a subordinate page that displays a standard disclaimer and the contact information for the person who maintains the link(s). The restrictions contained in this policy also apply to university electronically generated materials, such as publications, advertising, periodicals, letterhead and other institutional materials.
  5. NO USE OF UNIVERSITY TRADEMARKS ON THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES: Any third-party organization seeking to use the university’s trade name or trademarks must obtain written authorization from the University Marketing & Communications. The university does not permit explicit or implied institutional endorsements of any kind through the use of its names, trademarks, logos or images – including pictures of campus buildings. Certain informational references may be permitted, such as a reference to the university as a client of the organization. Certain third parties are granted licenses by the university to produce university products using the university’s names, logos and images. These licenses are strictly monitored by the university’s director of trademark licensing, who may authorize the use of the university’s logos on the websites of these companies.
  6. UNIVERSITY COMPUTING EQUIPMENT USE: Faculty, staff and students are not permitted to use a university server to host a .com or other commercial websites. See the information security policy for further details on the university’s confidentiality and privacy section of the information technology standards and guidelines.

For Policy Information, Also See:

Please consult the computer use policy of the university for further information regarding use of the university’s computer resources by faculty, staff or students of the university for personal purposes.

For Domain Name and Computer Use Questions, Contact:

  • Chris Amelung, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Digital Strategy, University Marketing & Communications
  • or Chris Schull, Chief Information Security Officer

For Written Authorization of Third-Party Use, Contact:

  • Karen Daubert, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration & Strategic Partnerships, University Marketing & Communications