Digital Privacy Policy

Statement of policy

Summary of contents/major changes

1. Purpose of Policy

   Privacy policies, defining a website’s use of visitor data, are required by most data privacy laws. The purpose of this policy is to describe how Western Michigan University ("University") informs its website visitors about the types or categories of information or data collected by University, the methods used to collect the information, who will have access to the information, the purposes for which this information is used, how it is protected, and the circumstances under which it may be disclosed.

2. Stakeholders Most Impacted by the Policy

   1. All visitors and users of University’s website(s); University’s Students, Faculty and Staff; Prospective students and employees; Third-party service providers.

3. Full Policy Details

   1. Information Gathered

      1. Websites you visit may gather information about you. Sometimes you are asked to supply information such as your name, address, or email address. Other times processes built into the website gather information.

      2. University may ask you for information to answer a request that you have submitted to the University. An example would be your name and address for mailing or emailing admissions or employment information. Information sent to the University via Web data entry may be read, filed, stored, forwarded, responded to or printed by the University staff members for the purpose of answering and tracking your request. In some cases, the university may outsource the collection of information, such as with admissions or employment applications, and your information may be read, filed, stored, forwarded, responded to or printed by employees of a third-party vendor providing services under contract with the university.

      3. You may be asked to enter your name, address, telephone number, email address or other information on a Western Michigan University website. This information may be kept and used for future communications.

      4. The university may release your personal information to third parties under provisions of University's Administrative Policies and Procedures. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) governs student data and information, and usage of website information must comply with this law.

   2. Site and Advertising Analytics

      1. The University may also use various analytics tools to collect site usage data and traffic origin data to analyze advertising effectiveness, email performance and overall usage of the site. These tools use cookies to track user sessions so that they can collect data about how users arrive at and navigate the site. The data collected never includes names, usernames, or email addresses. The University is working towards anonymizing all IP addresses that are collected. However, some individual IP addresses are currently collected on some of our systems, but they are not associated with individual users. You may prevent these tools from collecting data by turning off cookies in the preferences settings in your browser.

   3. Collection of Other Information

      1. Most information we gather does not identify you personally. University automatically collect information such as the type and identity of the Internet service provider you are using, your Internet protocol (IP) address, the time spent on the website, or the navigation path you took on the website. University use the gathered information to improve application performance, navigation, flow and content of the website to provide you with the best possible information service. University may gather personally identifiable information when you are using your personal services.

   4. Special Disclosure Cases

      1. Western Michigan University may disclose user information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the University's rights or property, other University users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. Such disclosures are processed in alignment with University Policies, particularly the University Acceptable Use Policy. The University reserves the right to use information to identify any visitors who refuse to comply with the University Acceptable Use Policy and to identify visitors who threaten our service, site, customers or others. The University may disclose information when the University believes in good faith that the law requires it.

   5. E-Commerce Transactions

      1. Some of the University’s website features may use applications to collect data to facilitate an e-commerce transaction. In most cases, The University uses an outside service with an approved banking relationship to process credit card transactions. All credit card information is encrypted and only the information needed to complete a transaction history is stored on our secure server. Payment card data are not stored within University systems or servers.

   6. Public Forums, Directories, Chat Rooms and Mail Lists

      1. This privacy statement does not protect you when you use University public forums. As a service to our users, Western Michigan University may offer directories, chat rooms, bulletin or message boards, or mailing list groups for our website visitors. Any information shared in a directory, chat room, bulletin board, or other posting or online discussion is public information and may be seen, disclosed to or collected by third parties that do not adhere to this privacy statement.

   7. Other Links

      1. The University website may contain destination links to other independently run websites for Western Michigan University student groups or organizations and to some third-party sites outside the "wmich.edu" domain. Western Michigan University is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such websites. These destination links are provided only for your convenience, and as such, you access them at your own risk. Any information you reveal on any such site is not subject to this privacy statement, therefore, you should consult the privacy policies of each site you visit. However, the University wish to ensure the integrity of our website and its destination links, so any comments pertaining to any sites accessed through destination links on our website are greatly appreciated.

   8. Security

      1. Western Michigan University treats your personal information as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. The University website has information security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. The University restricts access to our data center and server rooms to authorized personnel and limit access to personal information to those employees who have a legitimate business need to access such information. Despite these security measures, we do not represent or warrant that personal information will be protected against loss, misuse or alteration by third parties.

   9. Privacy Policy Changes

      1. The University may change its Privacy Policy and/or Statement at any time by posting revisions to our website. Your use of University’s website constitutes acceptance of the provisions of this Privacy Policy and/or Statement, and your continued usage after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy and/or Statement. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and/or Statement, including subsequent revisions, then please exit the University’s website immediately.

4. Implementation

   The Office of Information Technology, information technology personnel and web developers a will implement links to the Digital Privacy Policy from all IT resources, online content, and Web content management systems (CMS) where university data is stored and maintained.

5. Accountability

   Any person found to be in violation of this policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action as defined by current University policy or contract.