Online Privacy Statement

Last updated: March 10, 2022

 

Western Washington University (“WWU”) is committed to protecting your privacy.

This Privacy Statement discloses the privacy practices for all sites within the wwu.edu domain. Domains include subdomains that look like abc.wwu.edu. We refer to sites as (“Site”). 

By using this Site you consent to the collection and use of your information as described below. This Privacy Statement governs only the use and disclosure of information collected through this Site. Please note that other Western Washington University affiliates may have separate privacy policies. To learn more about Privacy practices at Western, visit the Privacy Program website

 

DATA COLLECTED VIA TECHNOLOGY

What We Collect When You Visit wwu.edu

We, and our third-party vendors, collect certain information regarding your use of wwu.edu, including but not limited to:

  • The Internet Protocol (IP) address
  • Name of the Internet domain you used to access the Internet
  • The IP address of the website from which you linked to a WWU website
  • The date and time you accessed a WWU website
  • The pages you visited
  • The web browser, operating system and any device you used to access a WWU website
  • Age and gender
  • Categories that you have shown interest in, based on previous searches

How We Collect Age and Gender

  • WWU uses a Google tool to collect user information. Google can determine a user's gender and age if a user provides their name to a google account or to a google partner.

We connect data from different systems. We do not link IP addresses to any personal information, so that you will remain anonymous.

What We Use it For

We use geographic, demographic, and interest-based reports of our website visitors. We do this to create better user experiences and for marketing purposes, including targeting custom audiences. We also collect other information as described in this statement.

WWU uses your information to consider potential improvements to this Site.

Please see the following links for information about Google Analytics:

 

DATA YOU PROVIDE TO US

WWU may request that you provide certain Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) to use our site. Instances where you use PII may include the following:

  • To use password-protected areas
  • To download information
  • To join WWU mailing lists
  • To engage in payment transactions
  • Other purposes

WWU only uses your PII when you give WWU that information.  You may choose not to provide WWU with PII.

 

WHAT DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION FOR?

We use the information we gather from you for the following:

  • For university business
  • To track user trends, and prevent unauthorized abuse
  • For the other purposes described in this statement

If you send us an email, the email address you provide may be used to:

  • Respond to inquiries, and/or your requests or questions
  • Send you information

We will not share, rent, sell, or authorize any third party to use your email address, for commercial purposes, without your permission. 

User information we collect may be shared with third-party vendors.

We may use third parties such as Google Analytics and Siteimprove to generate reports on Site activity. This may include:

  • Site usage
  • Web traffic
  • User behavior
  • Search terms used and
  • User interests

We use these reports to improve our websites.

We prohibit third parties who receive user information from using or sharing that information, except to provide better services to you.

We may provide your information to third parties for situations where we believe that doing so is necessary. Examples may include to:

  • Satisfy laws, regulations, legal processes or government requests
  • Detect or prevent fraud, or maintain security
  • Protect our rights and safety, and the rights and safety of our website users or others

Overall, the PII you submit to us is used to respond to requests that you make.

Unless there are restrictions on use of your PII, or unless WWU tells you otherwise, WWU (or third parties engaged by WWU) may use your personal information to:

  • Create and maintain your account
  • Communicate information like newsletters, alerts, or invitations
  • Process and fulfill transactions for services or materials 
  • Contact you to respond to your requests or inquiries 
  • Conduct research or surveys
  • Alerting you to safety alerts
  • Requesting donations
  • Meeting the requirements of our accreditors 
  • Deliver targeted advertising to you
  • Responding to subpoenas, court orders or legal process
  • Enforce our agreements
  • Protect the health, safety, rights or property of you, us or others
  • Meet legal obligations
  • Establish or exercise WWU’s legal rights or defend against legal claims
  • Take action regarding fraud, unlawful or criminal activity
  • Take action regarding misconduct, security or technical issues
  • Take action regarding unauthorized access to or use of Personal Data, our website or data systems

 

USE OF COOKIES AND WEB BEACONS

WWU transfers “cookies,” and “web beacons” to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser or email application to collect non-personal information about your visit to this website. 

Cookies are small files stored on your computer (unless you block them). We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits. Cookies help us compile data about website traffic. We do this to offer a better website experience in the future.

A web beacon, or pixel, is a tiny image that measures Site usage. We may put a pixel on a page to give us insight on how the Site is used. In some cases, a web beacon places a cookie on your device. 

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. You can remove and reject cookies from our Site with your browser settings. If you remove or reject our cookies, it may affect how our Site works for you.

 

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION

We only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary.  Except when a longer retention period is mandatory by law.  An example includes for tax, accounting or other legal requirements.  We will not keep your PII longer than the time you have an account with us.

When we no longer need to process your PII, we will either delete or anonymize it. We only keep your personal information as long as you have an account with us or as long as is required by law.

If this is not possible, then we will store your PII securely until deletion is possible.

 

YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

In some regions within the European Economic Area (EEA) you have certain rights to your data.

Under applicable data protection laws, your rights may include:

  • To request access and obtain a copy of your personal information
  • To request correction or erasure of date
  • To restrict the processing of your personal information and
  • (If applicable) To the right to transfer your data (Data Portability)

If we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you may withdraw consent at any time.

If you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our collecting, using and sharing of your Personal Information up to the point in time that you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may use your information that has been anonymized and does not personally identify you.

If you are a resident in the EEA and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. If you wish to contact us in connection with the exercise of your rights listed above, please email us at Compliance.Matters@wwu.edu. We will respond to your written request in a reasonable amount of time.

If you wish to contact us in connection with the exercise of your rights listed above, please email us at Compliance.Matters@wwu.edu. We will respond to your written request in a reasonable amount of time. 

Unless we inform you at the time of your request, we will not charge you a fee to exercise the rights listed above.

 

LINKED SITES

WWU may provide links on this Website to other sites of interest.  Use of such linked websites is subject to the privacy policies of those providers of those websites. WWU encourages you to read the privacy policies of each website you visit.

 

SECURITY MEASURES

WWU works hard to protect the security of the information that you provide to WWU.  This site has reasonable security measures in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure.

 

CHANGES

WWU may change this Privacy Statement from time to time.  If WWU does make a change, WWU will post the revised Privacy Statement on this Website and update the “Last Updated” date.

 

IF YOU WANT TO OPT-OUT FROM COLLECTED INFORMATION

If you wish to opt-out from the collected information, you may download Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

WWU welcomes your comments or questions regarding this Privacy Statement. Please e-mail us at Compliance.Matters@wwu.edu or contact us at the following address or phone number:
516 High Street
OM 330I, MS-9015
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 650-3065