Santa Clara University (“SCU”, the “University”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is committed to safeguarding the privacy of personal information collected when you access our campus website www.scu.edu and its associated digital platforms (collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Statement explains how we may collect, process, and share that information in connection with the Site and the related content, platform, services, products, and other functionality offered on or through our Site (collectively, the “Services”).
This Privacy Statement solely applies to the Site. It does not extend to other websites operated by third parties on our behalf. Whenever you visit such sites, we advise reviewing their respective privacy statements. As we reserve the right to update this Privacy Statement at any time and for any reason, we encourage you to revisit it each time you engage with the Site.
The types of information we collect may vary depending on the specific SCU site you visit or application you use. Accordingly, this Privacy Statement is intended to be a general statement and may be supplemented by more specific privacy notices that pertain to personal information exclusively associated with a specific department, unit or function or privacy laws that pertain to certain protected categories of data or to individuals in certain jurisdictions.
Data We Collect
SCU collects and maintains information about you from various sources, including the following:
Information you give us directly
We may obtain information about you when you provide information through our Site and through our Services, including when you create an online account during a registration process (for example when you register for an event or program), make a donation, apply to volunteer for us, communicate with us through our Site and Services, purchase products and services, when you register to receive one of our newsletters, or when you provide information in response to University outreach.
Information you give us indirectly
Your information may be shared with us by third parties, which includes
subcontractors acting on our behalf who provide us with technical, payment, or delivery services, our business partners, advertising networks, analytics providers, and search information providers.
When you visit the Site
We automatically collect information about your visit to the Site to comprehend how you interact with and utilize our Site, for example we collect information about pages you visit and how you navigate the website, i.e. length of visits to certain pages, products and services you viewed and searched for, and referral sources (e.g., how you arrived at our Site).
We collect and use your personal data by using cookies and web beacons on our Site, tracking your activity for analytical purposes. These analytics aid in personalizing content and inform our marketing and advertising efforts.
The Site also includes links to third-party social media platforms. While provided for convenience, these links are beyond our operational scope. We hold no responsibility for their practices or content. Thus, when you navigate away from our Site through such links, this Privacy Statement no longer applies, and you should refer to the privacy statements of the respective sites.
Type of information we may collect
The personal data we collect, store and use might include:
- your name and contact details (including address, email address and phone number);
- your date of birth;
- information about your activities on our Site;
- education and academic background;
- parent and guardian information;
- social network handle;
- publicly available information from third parties such address, phone, and email;
- and any other personal data shared with us either directly or indirectly.
How We Use Your Data
The utilization of your personal information depends on the service or resource you request on the Site. This may involve (among other things) providing material about our academic programs, adding you to mailing lists, processing applications or registrations, addressing inquiries, and facilitating communication. Your personal information may serve operational purposes such as security, fraud prevention, and legal compliance. We also use and share your information internally with other University offices and units as necessary to provide services to you. Below are some examples of how we use your data:
-
Personally identifiable information.
To help confirm your identity, our Site may require you to provide authentication (such as your full name, address, email, password, a university-provided ID or number or your date of birth).
-
Site activity.
When you access our website, we may collect information about your browser type and location, as well as the pages you visit. Non-personally identifiable information aids in analyzing web traffic and our Site performance, enhancing user experience, and supporting marketing endeavors.
-
Service management.
SCU uses information collected to provide, measure, and improve services and features to users and to provide customer support. We may use the information to prevent activities which might breach the conditions of use of our Site.
Who We Share Your Data With
We disclose your information to third parties as follows:
-
Consent. If you do not wish to have your email address/contact information used by SCU to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by emailing us at iso@scu.edu. Subject to the terms of the GDPR, this opt-out does not apply to information provided to SCU as a result of a service or product purchase, product service experience or other transactions.
-
Service Providers. We use third parties to support our operations and legitimate educational interests and may share your information with such third parties. For example, we may share your personal information with third parties engaged in information processing and storage. These may include providers of data hosting, analytics, financial aid, payment processing, event planning, and marketing services. We may share your personal information with trusted third-party marketing partners for the purpose of sending you promotional materials. You can opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the emails.
-
Required by Law. We will share your information with third parties to the extent we are required to do so by law, court order, or subpoena.
-
De-Identified and Aggregate Information. We use and disclose information about you in de-identified or aggregate form.
In addition to the above, we share your information internally with other University offices and units as necessary to provide services to you.
Except as described herein, we do not share your personal information, nor do we sell or disclose it to third parties.
Cookies and Site Analytics
We (and our authorized third parties) use cookies and similar technologies, such as pixels, web beacons, tags, and session replay tools to collect information about you, your device, and how you interact with our Site. Cookies are a type of technology that install a small amount of information on a user’s computer or other device when they visit a website. Some cookies are erased when you close your browser window and some persist over multiple sessions for a period of time. Pixels, web beacons and tags are types of code or transparent graphics that contain a unique identifier, and which provide analytical information about the user experience and help us customize our marketing activities. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, pixels, web beacons, and tags are embedded invisibly on web pages. Session replay tools record your interactions with our Site, such as how you move throughout our Site and engage with our webforms, and help us improve our Site and identify and fix technical issues that visitors may be having with our Site.
In addition to the uses identified above, we use these technologies to analyze Site usage by all of our visitors; to help us remember you and your preferences when you revisit the Site; and to remember you the next time you log in.
We may disclose information to or allow selected third parties, such as social media companies, advertising networks, and companies that provide analytics including ad tracking and reporting, to place cookies and other tracking technologies through the Site to provide us with better insights into the use of the Site or user demographics or to provide relevant advertising to you. These third parties may collect information about a user’s online activities over time and across the Site when they use our Site.
The Site uses Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics (or other similar web analytics tools) to collect information about visitor traffic and behavior. This allows us to identify usage trends and to improve the performance and content of our Site. In addition, certain automated tools are used to scan email, files, and network traffic for malicious content (e.g., phishing emails, malware, viruses). By using our Site, you consent to the usage of such tools and agree that we (together with Microsoft, Google and such other third parties) can collect and use this data.
You can use the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on to disable tracking by Google Analytics, and can use the Digital Advertising Alliance system and select “Microsoft” to opt-out of tracking by Microsoft Clarity. If you install the Protect My Choices app for your browser, you can ensure your opt-out preference is saved.
Further general information about cookies and how they work is available at www.allaboutcookies.org. You can decline cookies by adjusting your browser settings but some features of the Site may not function. If you change computers, devices, or browsers; use multiple computers, devices, or browsers; or delete your cookies, you may need to repeat this process for each computer, device, or browser. We currently do not use technology that responds to do-not-track signals from your browser.
Retention and Destruction of Your Information
Your information will be retained by SCU in accordance with the applicable retention periods in the University’s Record Retention Policy. The manner of destruction shall be appropriate to preserve and ensure the confidentiality of your Information given the level of sensitivity, value and criticality to the University.
If you are located in the European Union, you may also have additional rights with respect to your Information, such as: (i) data access and portability; (ii) data correction (including the ability to update your personal data); (iii) data deletion (including the right to have SCU delete your personal information, except information we are required to retain, by contacting us); and (iv) withdrawal of consent or objection to processing (including, in limited circumstances, the right to ask SCU to stop processing your personal data, with some exceptions, by contacting us). You may also be able to file a complaint with the appropriate supervisory authority in the European Union.
How We Protect Your Data
You must have a secure browser—one that supports secure transmission of data across the Internet—to send payment to/from the University. For more information about your browser’s security features, use your browser’s help feature.
Reputable third-party merchant processors, financial institutions and software vendors handle our credit card transactions pursuant to written agreements with the University that require them to maintain the confidentiality of these records.
We seek to implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your information when you transmit it to us and when we store it on our information technology systems. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have an account with SCU (e.g., via the mySCU Portal), your account password is protected so that only you can access it and view the information that you provide to us through the online site. We strongly advise you not to share your password with anyone.
Your Access and Choice
If you are a SCU student, faculty member or staff member, you can manage privacy settings for your directory information on Workday by entering in the search bar “Manage My Privacy Settings” and choosing which directory information you wish to keep private.
You can choose not to receive certain marketing emails from us by “unsubscribing” using the instructions in any email you receive from us. This will not stop us from sending emails about your account or education with us.
Updates to This Policy
SCU reserves the right to change this notice or University policies at any time without notice. You should visit this page periodically to review the current notice.
If you have questions about this privacy notice, please contact us via e-mail at iso@scu.edu.