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Privacy Policy

Introduction

Macalester College (“College,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) is intended to educate you about the types of data we collect, our use of this data, and its security. In addition, helpful information on how to limit the collection and use of your data is provided.

Our purpose for the collection and use of data

Macalester College is an institution of higher education involved in education, research, and community service and development. For Macalester to educate our students, engage in research, and provide community services, it is necessary to—and Macalester College has a lawful basis for—collecting, processing, using, and maintaining the data of its students, employees, applicants, research subjects, and others involved in the educational, research, and community programs of the College. This lawful basis includes but is not limited to the following: admissions processing; registration; delivery of classroom, field, and study abroad education; grades; communications; employment; applied research; development; program analysis; and records retention.

What we collect and how

Personally Identifiable Information is collected, stored, and processed when you provide it voluntarily by completing a form or completing the personal information fields associated with an online survey or questionnaire. In addition, aggregated web analytical information, demographic information, interest information, ad-network interactions, IP address, and geolocation are automatically gathered when you visit College-owned websites. This information may be linked with personal information to accomplish the institutional goals outlined in the previous section of this policy. Lastly, other entities may provide your information to us (examples include: you have asked the College Board to send us your test scores; a third party identifies you as a prospective student who may be interested in our programs; a third party identifies you as an individual Macalester may want to contact). Providing us your Personally Identifiable Information as described in this Policy is partly a requirement to provide you with our services, including use of this Site and the performance of any contract with you. If you choose not to provide certain information when requested, however, we may not be able to provide our services to you.

We may also collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device, or other devices you use to access our sites. This information may include browser language and browser type.

We may also collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device, or other devices you use to access our sites. This information may include browser language and browser type. Some sections of the Macalester.edu website use Google Analytics (with Google Analytics Advertising Features enabled), a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyze how users use our Site in aggregate. Please visit the following pages for more information on Google’s Terms of Service and Google’s Privacy Policy. Lastly, Google also provides a way to opt-out of Google Analytics tracking.

Some sections of the Macalester.edu website use the Google Marketing Platform, which is a form of interest-based advertising (IBA). IBA uses information collected across multiple websites that you visit to predict your preferences or infer interests and to show you information more likely to be of interest to you. Learn about opting out of third-party use of IBA cookies.

Some sections of the Macalester.edu website use Facebook Pixel, a web analytics service provided by Facebook, Inc. Facebook Pixel uses cookies to help us analyze web traffic coming from Facebook Products (which have thousands of our community members as users) and how those users use our Site in aggregate. See Facebook’s cookie policy and Facebook’s Terms of Service for more information. Facebook is a participant in the Digital Advertising Alliance, which provides an opt-out option from its members’ tracking.

Some sections of the Macalester.edu website use Ping, a web analytics service provided by Technolutions, Inc. Ping uses cookies to associate user behaviors on our Site with user profiles in our alumni and prospective-student databases. See Technolutions’s Privacy Policy for more information.

Cookies

When you use our Site we may store cookies on your device in order to facilitate and customize your use of our Site, as well as to provide us with information about your visit to our Site. A cookie is a small data text file which a Web site stores on your device that can later be retrieved for various purposes as detailed below. Web browsers typically allow some control of most cookies through browser settings. You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits this. Declining cookies may prevent you from taking full advantage of our Site.

Our Site occasionally uses third-party embeds to deliver content (e.g., YouTube video embeds) and collect web analytical information that helps us see how our users use our site (e.g., Google Analytics Advertising Features). Some of these third-party embeds will generate third-party cookies that you can also decline as described above, with the same understanding that declining those third-party cookies may prevent you from taking full advantage of our Site.

Do Not Track Mechanisms

Your browser may deliver a “Do-Not-Track (‘DNT’) signal,” or similar mechanism for exercising choices about the collection of information about your online activities. Because of the changing state of technology, we do not guarantee that we will honor DNT signals or similar mechanisms at this time.

Sharing or transfer of your data

Macalester College will never sell, share or trade Personally Identifiable Information you voluntarily provide to us such as name, email address, or phone number except under one or more of the following conditions:

  • We have your consent to share the information.
  • We are required or allowed by law to share the information.
  • We are sharing the information with third party service providers acting on our behalf who have agreed to protect the confidentiality of the data.

Data security

Macalester College has industry standard reasonable security measures in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the personal data we gather and store. The College has implemented physical, administrative, and technical safeguards and operational procedures to protect the data we collect, process, and store. Examples include firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention, log monitoring, data encryption, and other technical measures; however, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure.

External links

Macalester’s website may contain links to other websites not affiliated with the College. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those sites. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the operation or the content of these websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of all websites you visit to ensure their practices safeguard your privacy.

Updates to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time at our discretion. Any such changes will be posted on this page and shall be effective as of the Effective Date indicated. Your continued use of the Site after such modifications will constitute your acknowledgment of the revised Policy and agreement to abide and be bound by the modified Policy.

Who to contact

For questions regarding this privacy statement or if, as a covered individual under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you wish to exercise any of the rights afforded to you by that regulation, please email [email protected].