Privacy Policy

Mount St. Mary’s College (“MSMC” or “the College”) provides this Web site (“site”) as a service to students, faculty, alumni, and prospective students. Use of the site is subject to the terms and conditions set forth below in Mount St. Mary’s Privacy Policy (“policy”).

Although MSMC respects the privacy of this site’s users (or “members” or “visitors”), the College collects information from its Web site members and visitors. The Privacy Policy governs users’ interaction with the site and users’ registration for and use of the site’s online services. Except as set forth within this Privacy Policy, the site’s Terms of Service agreement, and/or other published guidelines, MSMC does not release personally identifiable information about the site’s visitors without their permission.

Please note that MSMC reviews these privacy practices from time to time, and that these practices are therefore subject to change. MSMC asks users to periodically review this page to ensure continuing familiarity with the most current version of the site’s Privacy Policy. To contact MSMC about privacy issues, to report a violation of the site’s Privacy Policy, or to raise any other issue regarding the site, please visit http://www.msmc.la.edu/pages/3486.asp.

The Information Mount St. Mary’s College Gathers

MSMC gathers two types of information about the site’s users:

1. Non-personally identifiable information. As users access the site, MSMC collects and aggregates information indicating, among other things, which pages were visited, the order in which they were visited, and which hyperlinks were employed. Collecting such information involves the logging of IP addresses, operating system, and browser software used by each visitor. Although such information is not personally identifiable, the College can determine from the IP address a visitor’s Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of the user’s point of connectivity.

   The non-personally identifiable information collected helps in diagnosing any server problems, administering the site, identifying the most popular areas of the site, and determining the effectiveness of promotional activities.

   For the same purposes, the College uses “cookies” – that is, small text files placed on your computer’s hard drive – to help determine the type of content and sites visited, the length of time spent on a particular site, and the usage of services offered via the site. For information on how users can control their Web browser’s acceptance of cookies, please refer to the documentation accompanying the browser.

2. Personally identifiable information. Certain areas of the site may require that users provide personally identifiable information (including, for example, zip code, age, income, and e-mail address). In addition, when registering to set up an account to use certain services on the site such as e-mail, chat rooms, forums, blogs, or to receive newsletters or specifically targeted information (“services”), MSMC may require that users provide their name and e-mail address.

   The College does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children (defined herein as minors younger than thirteen years of age) without obtaining parental consent. Before registering for an account to use the services of the site, MSMC requests that all minors have their parents read the Privacy Policy and continue their involvement throughout the registration process.

   MSMC does not control the acts of this site’s members or visitors. All members and visitors should be aware that their disclosure of personally identifiable information in a bulletin board, chat room, guest book, blog, or other forum allows other parties to send them unsolicited e-mail. In the event visitors encounter any user on this site who is improperly collecting or using information provided by the site’s members or visitors, please visit http://www.msmc.la.edu/pages/3486.asp.

How the College Uses/Does Not Use Gathered Information

Please take some time to become familiar with the different ways MSMC uses the information gathered. Keep in mind that, while the College encourages all third parties involved to adhere to this site’s Privacy Policy and to otherwise handle personal information in a responsible manner, MSMC cannot and does not assume any responsibility for any actions or omissions of third parties, including the manner in which they use information received either from the College or independently. Nevertheless, in the event users encounter any third party associated with, or who claims association with MSMC, who is improperly collecting or using personal information, please visit visit http://www.msmc.la.edu/pages/3486.asp and report this incident.

Use of non-personally identifiable information. The College uses non-personally identifiable information in aggregate form to build higher quality, more useful online services by performing statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of the site visitors, and by measuring demographics and interests regarding specific areas of the site.

The site may contain links to other Internet Web sites, including co-branded or other affiliated sites that may or may not be owned or operated by MSMC. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, the College is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites, including such sites’ use of any information (such as IP number, browser type, or operating system) collected when visitors to the site click through links to those sites. Even though such information might not identify the user personally, users should be familiar with the privacy practices of those other sites.

Use of personally identifiable information. The College provides notice to potential registrants of this site whose personally identifiable information will be collected during the registration process. Such notice is provided simultaneously with the user’s registration on this site; moreover, this policy itself serves as notice that such information is collected under those circumstances. Although users may not “opt out” of the registration process and still receive access to the services, users may choose to “opt out” of receiving promotional materials from the College and/or other business partners. If the user does not “opt out” of receiving such promotional materials, MSMC reserves the right to release user’s personally identifiable registration information to third parties who provide goods or services that the College believes may be of interest to the user. If the user decides to discontinue receiving promotional information from such third parties, please contact those third parties directly, or contact MSMC at https://hdo.collegis.com/msmc/.

MSMC limits its own e-mail contact and solicitations to those users who have not “opted out” of receiving such communications. The solicitations are limited in that they, among other things, will clearly indicate the originator of the e-mail and provide the user with a method of “opting out” of receiving future communications of a similar nature.

Finally, MSMC may use individual members’ data to “pre-populate” forms, which are displayed for the purpose of collecting individual data by the College. In no case does pre-populating a form transfer any data to any third party. Only if the user voluntarily requests that such data be transferred will any transfer take place, for example, if/when a user clicks a “submit form” button or other button.

MSMC reserves the right to release any and all information contained within access logs concerning any visitor when that visitor is in violation of the College’s “Terms of Service” (“Acceptable Use Policy”). agreement or other published guidelines, or partakes (or is reasonably suspected of partaking) in any illegal activity, even without a subpoena, warrant, or other court order, and to release such information in response to discovery requests, or in response to any circumstance in which the College, in its sole discretion, deems an emergency. MSMC cooperates with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who may be using its servers or services for illegal activities. MSMC also reserves the right to report any suspected illegal activity to law enforcement for investigation or prosecution.

MSMC will post the relevant privacy information in the official rules and/or registration area for any promotions it sponsors. That privacy information, to the extent it conflicts with this Privacy Policy, will govern that particular promotion.

Security

All information gathered on the site is stored within a controlled database accessible only to the College to protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under its control. However, as effective as any security measure implemented by the College may be, no security system is impenetrable. MSMC cannot guarantee the security of its database, nor can it guarantee that the information supplied by users will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the Internet. Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be directed to the Office of Information Technology at https://hdo.collegis.com/msmc/.

Changing/Deleting Personal Information

If users would like to have personally identifiable information changed or removed from MSMC’ s database, please contact the Office of Information Technology at https://hdo.collegis.com/msmc/. Keep in mind that there will be residual information remaining within the databases, access logs, and other records, which may or may not contain such personally identifiable information. The residual information will not be used for commercial purposes; however, the College reserves the right, from time to time, to re-contact former customers or users of this site.

Questions?

Questions regarding the Privacy Policy should be directed to the College via the Office of Information Technology at https://hdo.collegis.com/msmc/.