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Digital Privacy Statement

Waynesburg University’s (WU) Digital Privacy Statement establishes policies, procedures, guidelines, and data use practices for information gathering, collection, and usage on Waynesburg.edu and all affiliated websites contained on the www.waynesburg.edu domain. WU is committed to the online privacy of its visitors to and users of the sites.

The types of information that WU collects may vary depending on the site or application.  Accordingly, if a site has its own privacy statement posted, this privacy statement supersedes this Digital Privacy Statement to the extent of any notable differences.

Information Collection & Use

Personal Information

  • It is essential and required that we collect, process, use, and/or maintain personal information of visitors to our website, including students, prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and members of the public (each a “visitor” and, collectively, the “visitors”), to:
    • Ensure the functionality of the website.
    • To achieve its Christian, service oriented, and educational mission.
    • To promote engagement with and giving to Waynesburg University.

What Personal Information Is Collected?

  • WU may request and collect personal information from a visitor if, for example, the visitor uses a site to ask a question, requests to be contacted, requests information for a particular educational program, offering, and/or activity, signs up for a digital/snail-mail mailing list, requests access to a protected portion of any site, submits a form, or makes a payment. The University will also collect personal information about visitors’ website use when visitors submit forms, through cookies and server logs, which track the IP addresses of visitors to the sites and the pages they visit (see the section on “Information Gathered Automatically”, below).
  • Other than as described herein, the University does not collect personal information about visitors when they visit the sites unless they voluntarily provide that information.

Information Gathered Automatically

  • When a visitor visits a site or requests access to a protected portion of the site, WU may collect and store digital information sent by the visitor’s web browser, such as IP addresses (i.e., the internet address of the visitor’s computer or device), geolocation, the web browser used for the connection, the device operating system, unique device identifiers, and other digital property, such as pages visited, length of visit, and terms searched.  When a visitor submits a form via a site, the University may capture and store the visitor’s IP address along with other information submitted to WU on the form. Otherwise, WU does not link IP addresses or cookies to any other visitor personal information. In connection with protecting WU’s electronic assets, the University routinely monitors its network for signs of malicious activity.

Cookies

  • In addition, WU uses cookies, which are text files placed on visitor devices to evaluate usage patterns, so that the University can improve both content and distribution.  The information can also be used to establish continuity between requests, to personalize a site to a visitor’s preferences, to authenticate a visitor’s log-in, to analyze web traffic, to monitor and ensure the security of the network, and to help diagnose problems with the University’s servers. Visitors may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on their browsers; however if the settings are adjusted, a visitor may not be able to use the full functionality of the Sites.

Functional cookies

  • Visitors are sometimes requested to sign-up or log-in in order to use some of our online services.
  • When a visitor enters their username and password, a cookie may be set identifying them as a logged-in user. This cookie is removed either when they log out, or when they have not visited the site for some time and their login expires. These systems are typically those that deal explicitly with personal data, transactions, purchasing or borrowing.
  • Though this cookie will identify the visitor as a specific person on the system, the University does not pass any information to market research companies, advertisers or other third parties.

Web Statistics and Page Sharing

  • Many sites, including Waynesburg.edu, use Google Analytics, which is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”).  Google Analytics uses persistent cookies to analyze how visitors use a site.  The information generated by the cookie about a visitor’s use of a site (including the visitor’s IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating the visitor’s use of the site, compiling reports on site activity for the University and providing other services related to website activity and internet usage.
  • Google may also transfer this information, with and/or without notification to WU, to third parties where required to do so by law, or where the third parties process the information on Google’s behalf.  Google will not associate the visitor’s IP address with any other data held by Google.
  • By using the sites, each visitor consents to Google processing of data about the visitor in the manner and for the purposes noted above.  Please visit the following pages for more information about Google Analytics Terms of Service and Google’s Privacy Practices.

Sharing of Your Personal Information

WU may share and disclose information as described at the time information is collected or as follows:

Sharing personal data within the University

The University may, consistent with federal and state law, share personal information between schools/offices if the information sharing is reasonable and expected. In certain circumstances, we will seek your consent before sharing certain types of information among schools/offices of the University.

Disclosing personal data outside the University

  • Under certain circumstances, and consistent with federal and state law, the University may verify certain facts about staff and/or students to third parties who provide relations and sponsorship services or to employment agencies, prospective employers and third parties requesting confirmation of awards if such disclosure is legally permitted, and if the identity of the requestor has been confirmed.
  • A list of the categories to whom the University may disclose personal data of students, including sensitive personal data, consistent with federal and state law, is as follows:
    • Sponsors, loan organizations and scholarship programs.
      • Where students have a sponsor, scholarship program, or a loan provider, the University may disclose student personal data to these organizations to determine whether support should continue. Personal data about students may be disclosed to third parties attempting to recover debt on behalf of the University where internal procedures have failed.
    • Parents, guardians and other relatives in exceptional circumstances, such as when students have provided a contact in the event of a medical problem or emergency.
    • ​​​​​​​Published information
      • Examination results may be displayed on notice boards within the University, and any award (such as a degree) made by the University is a matter of public record rather than personal data, and as such will be publicly available and publicized at, for instance, graduation ceremonies.
      • Photographs of students during the course of their study may also be taken. If you do not wish your photograph to be taken, then simply absent yourself from any pictures. Group photographs taken will assume the permission of individuals pictured for use in University publications and publicity materials, and publications produced by third parties authorized by the University. Attendance at graduation ceremonies will assume the permission of the attendees and photographs and recordings taken one the day may be publicized on the University's website.
    • Certain technology vendors who the University contracts with to provide services to faculty, staff, students, and alumni. 

Information Security

  • WU has implemented a number of reasonable physical, technical, and administrative safeguards/ procedures to protect and secure information it collects online against unauthorized disclosure, loss, or misuse. However, the University cannot provide an absolute guarantee as to the security of any information transmitted through its website or digital properties.

Digital Advertising

  • WU may contract with third-party vendors to show University advertisements on websites and digital properties that are not controlled, either in part of full, by the University.  The University and third-party vendors with whom the University contracts may use cookies and web beacons to serve ads based on a visitor’s prior visits to the sites and to assess the effectiveness of those ads.
  • In addition, the University may allow prospective students and others to provide their personal contact information to the University through these digital ad platforms.  The University treats such information in accordance with this Digital Privacy Statement.

 Retention of Information

  • The information/data collected through the WU sites is retained in accordance with the University’s Record Retention Policy and the Policy on Network Security Monitoring.
  • IT Policies & Procedures

Third Party Websites

  • WU sites may link to or embed content from websites that are not controlled by the University (“Third Party Sites” including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.).  The University is not responsible for the privacy practices or content/content management of Third Party Sites. Please reference these sites to obtain their individual/specific privacy practices and content collection methods accordingly.

Children’s Privacy

  • WU’s content is not intended to attract children under 13 years of age and the University will not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age.  If a Visitor is under 13 years of age, the Visitor should not use the Sites.

Do Not Track

  • Our website does not support Do Not Track at this time. Do Not Track is a privacy preference that you can set in your web browser to indicate that you do not want certain information about your webpage visits collected across websites when you have not interacted with that service on the page. For details, including how to turn on Do Not Track, visit www.donottrack.us.

Your California Privacy Rights

  • California residents who provide certain types of personal information in obtaining products or services for personal, family or household use are entitled to request and obtain from us once a calendar year information about certain types of personal information we shared, if any, with other businesses for their own direct marketing uses. To obtain this information, please send an email message to cio@waynesburg.edu with “Request for California Privacy Information” on the subject line and in the body of your message.

 Acceptance of this Digital Privacy Statement

  • WU assumes that all visitors to the sites have reviewed the Digital Privacy Statement, as it may be modified and updated from time to time and agree to its contents. If a visitor does not agree with the Digital Privacy Statement, such visitor should refrain from using the sites.

Additional Information for EU Visitors

  • With respect to “personal data” as defined by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”)  that you may provide to us through the websites, we serve as the “controller.”
  • We provide the websites from servers located in the United States. If you provide personal data to us, we will transfer your personal data to the United States where our servers are located. We will only transfer your personal data to the United States through the use of appropriate safeguards [such as with your consent. If the transfer of your personal data or processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you may contact us at cio@waynesburg.edu to withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent we will not be able to provide you with the services available on the websites.
  • We process personal data to fulfill our contractual obligations to users who obtain products and services from us and in furtherance of our legitimate interest in providing the websites and the services available on the websites or, if we request your consent to process your personal data when you provide it, with your consent. To learn more about how we use the information we collect, please refer to the  described in the section titled “Personal Information” under the heading “Information Collection & Use” above. To learn more about with whom we share your personal information please refer to the section titled “Sharing of your Personal Information” above.
  • You may have the right to access your personal data, correct inaccuracies in your personal data, request the erasure of your personal data and restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. If you wish to access your personal information, please contact us at cio@waynesburg.edu and allow reasonable time for the data to be collected. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

Changes to this Digital Privacy Statement

  • WU may modify this Digital Privacy Statement.  All changes will be made directly to this webpage and will be effective on the date posted.

How to Contact Us

Questions about this Statement should be directed to WU’s Chief Information Officer at cio@waynesburg.edu.

WU ITS (Information Technology Services)

Effective: September 5, 2018

Revised: September 7, 2018