Privacy Notice

Thank you for visiting St. Thomas University.  This privacy notice explains how St. Thomas University collects, uses, and shares your personal data, and your rights in relation to the personal data we hold.  

St. Thomas University is the data controller of your personal data and is subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and General Data Protection Regulation.  

St. Thomas University is a not-for-profit institution based in Miami Gardens, Florida.  St. Thomas takes great strides to protect the data of any individual who interacts with the University in the usual course of business; however, nothing in this statement should be construed as a violation of the University’s state or federal requirements.  Where regulations are in conflict, the University will follow federal regulations while still diligently protecting the data of all individuals regardless of their geographical location.  

This privacy notice describes our practices in connection with information that we collect:

  • Through websites operated by us from which you are accessing this privacy notice (the “Websites”;
  • Through our social media pages (collectively, our “Social Media Pages”);
  • Through email messages that we send to you that link to this privacy notice; and, 
  • Through offline services as detailed in this policy.  

Collectively, we refer to the websites and social media pages as “services”.

Personal Information

Personal information is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to  an identifiable individual including, but not limited to:

  • Name;
  • Address (including billing and shipping addresses);
  • Telephone number;
  • Email address(es);
  • Credit and debit card number;
  • Profile picture;
  • Social media account(s);
  • IP address;
  • STU keys and STU issued identification credentials; and/or
  • Other information that you voluntarily provide through your use of the services, and may include sensitive information, such as health, financial, or racial and ethnic origin information. 

Personal Information Collected

We may collect your personal information in a number of ways, for example:  

  • We collect personal information through the services, for example, register an account to access the services, or make a purchase.
  • We collect personal information from you offline, e.g., when you visit our campus or other facilities, place a request over the phone, or contact STU.
  • When you provide personal information through our websites.
  • From publicly available sources or third-party service providers. If you disclose any personal information relating to other people to us or to our third-party service providers in connection with the services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this privacy notice.
  • If you connect your social media account to your services account, you will share certain Personal Information from your social media account with us, for example, your name, email address, photo, list of social media contacts, and any other information that may be or you make accessible to us when you connect your social media account to your services account.

STU Website Technologies

Website technologies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the services, pages visited, and other traffic data. We and our third-party service providers use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience.  We also gather statistical information about use of the services in order to continually improve their design and functionality, understand how they are used and assist us with resolving questions regarding them.  Cookies further allow us to select which of our programs, initiatives, offerings and services are most likely to appeal to you and display them while you are on the services.  We may also use cookies or other technologies in online advertising to track responses to our ads. 

You have a variety of tools to control cookies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies. You should check with your provider or with your preferred browser on how to disable cookies. Your browser choice and disabling cookies may impact your experience with our services. To access Google Analytics’ Opt-Out service, please visit:  https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout 

Other Information Collected

We and our third-party service providers may collect Other Information in a variety of ways, including:

  • Through your browser or device:  Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device. We use this information to ensure that the services function properly.
  • Through your use of the App:  When you download and use the App, we and our third-party service providers may track and collect App usage data.
  • IP Address: Your IP address is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider.  An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the services, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited.  Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services.  We use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels, diagnosing server problems and administering the Services.  We may also derive your approximate location from your IP address.

Personal Information Usage

We limit the collection of personal Information to that which is required in order to provide services to you. We collect personal information in order to deliver and better tailor the features, performance and support of our services and Website, and to offer you additional information about our services, personalized to you, your role, and interests at St. Thomas University. 

The purposes for which we may use personal data (including sensitive personal data) we collect during a student’s association with us include:

  • Recruitment and admissions;
  • Academic matters including the provision of our core teaching, learning, and research services (e.g. registration, assessment, attendance, managing progress, academic misconduct investigations, certification, graduation, etc.);
  • Providing library and information technology services;
  • Non-academic matters in support of our core services and mission, including student support services (e.g. Academic Enhancement Services, tutoring, Career Services, Student Health Center, work study employment, managing student accommodations, managing car/parking decals, community standards judicial hearings and investigations, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of students, etc.);
  • Administering finance (e.g. fees, scholarships, and bursaries); and/or,
  • Other administrative purposes, including carrying out research and statistical analysis, carrying out audits (e.g. to ensure compliance with regulatory and legal obligations), providing operational information (e.g. providing information technology support), promoting our services (e.g. travel abroad or events happening on campus), preventing or detecting a crime, dealing with complaints and inquires, and dealing with grievances and disciplinary actions.

Use of Contact Information for Emergency/Crisis Notification

Any and all contact information you provide, such as home telephone numbers, cellular numbers, and email addresses may be used to notify you of an emergency or crisis that may affect you and/or the University community.

Your emergency contact information may be used to notify your designated emergency contact(s) of an emergency or crisis that may affect you and/or the University community.

Personal Information Disclosure

We may disclose your Personal Information to:

  • Departments within the University;
  • Archdiocese of Miami for insurance and background checks; 
  • Third-parties involved in assisting the University in providing services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, event registration, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing, surveys, and other services;
  • To third parties to permit them to send you promotional communications, consistent with your choices;
  • By using the services, you may elect to disclose personal information:
    • On message boards, chat, profile pages, blogs and other services to which you are able to post information and content (including, without limitation, our social media pages).  Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public.
    • Through your social sharing activity.  When you connect your services account with your social media account, you will share information with your friends associated with your social media account, with other users, and with your social media account provider. By doing so, you authorize us to facilitate this sharing of information, and you understand that the use of shared information will be governed by the social media provider’s privacy policy.
  • Local, state and/or Federal agencies, pursuant to valid legal process; and
  • Other parties as we deem reasonably necessary in order to protect and defend our rights, or the rights or safety of third parties.

Uses and Disclosures of Other Information

We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law.

Graduation and Degree Information

Personal information (including award and classification) will be published in the award ceremony booklet.  This information will also be passed to third-parties involved in the ceremonies (including but not limited to our commencement production company and Follett Bookstore).  All published details will be available in our archive, our YouTube Channel, and website following commencement events.

Fundraising and Alumni Relations

We pass certain of your personal data to our Office of Advancement or School of Law Alumni Relations Office when you graduate.  This information will be used for alumni activities, including STU Contact, St. Thomas Lawyer Magazine, other St. Thomas University publications, promotion of alumni benefits, services, events and/or programs.    

Security

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization.  Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

Withdrawal of Consent

If you have given your consent and you wish to withdraw it, please contact us at privacy@stu.edu.  Please note that where our processing of your personal data relies on your consent and where you then withdraw that consent, we may not be able to provide all or some aspects of our services to you and/or it may affect the provision of those services.

Retention Period

We retain personal information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law.

The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

  • The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide the services to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us or keep using the services);
  • Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or
  • Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).

Third Party Services

This privacy notice does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third-party operating any website or service.  The inclusion of a link on the services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, any app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider or device manufacturer, including with respect to any personal information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with our social media pages.

Solicitation of Information from Children

St. Thomas University does not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from users under the age of 13, nor do we knowingly send users under the age of 13 requests for personal information. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information about your child, please contact us at privacy@stu.edu  and we will attempt to delete the information.

 

 

Changes to the Privacy Notice

The privacy notice is subject to change at any time, and the revision date will be noted here. We encourage users to regularly review the privacy notice for any changes. The most recent changes to the privacy notice occurred and became effective on June 20, 2018.  

Contacting Us

If you have questions or concerns about the St. Thomas University’s privacy notice, please contact us at privacy@stu.edu or:

Offices of Information Technology and Risk Management and Compliance 

St. Thomas University

16401 NW 37th Avenue

Miami Gardens, FL 33054

 

Because email communications are not always secure, please do not include credit card or other sensitive information in your emails to us.

 Additional Information

In accordance with applicable law, you may lodge a complaint with the relevant privacy or data protection regulatory authority.