Commitment to Privacy

Grove City College values individuals' privacy and actively seeks to preserve the privacy rights of those who share information with us. Your trust is important to us and we believe you have the right to know how information submitted through a college Web site is handled.

As explanation of GCC's online information policy and practices and to assist you in better protecting your privacy, we provide the following privacy notice.

Privacy Notice

The following information explains the Internet privacy policy and practices the college has adopted for its official Web sites. However, in legal terms, it shall not be construed as a contractual promise, and the college reserves the right to amend it at any time without notice. Privacy and public records obligations of the college are governed by applicable Pennsylvania statutes and by any applicable U.S. federal laws.

The Information We Collect

The Web Privacy Statement speaks generally to the information collected by or submitted to official Grove City College Web sites. Still the amount and type of information collected may vary somewhat from site to site. Therefore, in addition to this general explanation of policy and practice, the college encourages schools, departments, divisions and other units contributing to its official Web pages to post, as necessary, more specific privacy notices pertaining to the collection and use of any personal information associated exclusively with those pages. Thus it is wise for you to read page-specific notices to ensure you understand the privacy policies and practices applicable to a particular site.

When you access official GCC Web pages, certain client information and essential and nonessential technical information (collectively referred to as access information) listed below may be collected. No other information is collected through our official Web sites except when you deliberately send it to us (for example, by clicking a link to send us an e-mail). Examples of the information you might choose to send us are listed below as "optional information."

Client information: the Internet domain and Internet address of the computer you are using.

Essential technical information: identification of the page or service you are requesting, type of browser and operating system you are using; and the date and time of access.

Nonessential technical information: the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our Web site, and the "cookie information" used to direct and tailor information based on your entry path to the site.

When you send us an e-mail: your name, e-mail address, and the content of your e-mail. When you complete online forms: all the data you choose to fill in or confirm. This may include credit or debit card information if you are ordering a product or making a payment, as well as information about other people if you are providing it for delivery purposes, etc.

The Way We Use Information

As a general rule, GCC does not track individual visitor profiles. We do, however, reserve the right to analyze aggregate traffic/access information for resource management and site planning purposes. GCC also reserves the right to use log detail to investigate resource management or security concerns.

Client information is used to route the requested Web page to your computer for viewing. In theory, the requested Web page and the routing information could be discerned by other entities involved in transmitting the requested page to you. We do not control the privacy practices of those entities.

We may keep client information from our systems indefinitely after the Web page is transmitted, but we do not cross-reference it to the individuals who browse our Web site. However, on rare occasions when a "hacker" attempts to breach computer security, logs of access information are retained to permit a security investigation. In such cases the logs may be further analyzed or forwarded together with any other relevant information in our possession to law enforcement agencies.

Essential and nonessential technical information lets us respond to your request in an appropriate format [or in a personalized manner] and helps us plan Web site improvements. To expedite this process, some official Grove City College Web sites may use "cookies." Usually a cookie enables the college Web site to tailor what you see according to the way you entered the site (i.e., if you entered by pushing a button identifying yourself as a student, your subsequent views of information might be tailored for student audiences).

We also may use non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our Web site. For example, we may determine that X number of individuals visited a certain area on our Web site, or that Y number of men and Z number of women filled out a particular registration form. But we do not disclose information that could identify those specific individuals.

Optional information enables us to provide services or information tailored more specifically to your needs, to forward your message or inquiry to another entity that is better able to do so, and to plan Web site improvements.

We use the information you provide about yourself or about someone else when placing a request for service only to complete that order or request. We do not share this information with outside parties, except to the extent necessary to complete that order or request.

We generally use return e-mail addresses only to answer the e-mail we receive. Such addresses are generally not used for any other purpose.

Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the purpose described without a clear notice on the particular site and without also providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

Providing Information is Your Choice

There is no legal requirement for you to provide any information at our Web site. However, our Web site may not work without routing information and the essential technical information. Failure of your browser to provide nonessential technical information will not prevent your use of our Web site but may prevent certain features from working. For any optional information that is requested at the Web site, failure to provide the requested information will mean that the particular feature or service associated with that part of the Web page may not be available to you.

Our Commitment To Data Security

Grove City College is dedicated to preventing unauthorized data access, maintaining data accuracy, and ensuring the appropriate use of information. We strive to put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial safeguards to secure the information we collect online. These security practices are consistent with the policies of the college and with the laws and regulatory practices of the state of Pennsylvania.

How To Contact Us

Should you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies and practices, please call us at (724) 458-2299 or send us an e-mail at webmaster@gcc.edu. If you wish to review or change information gathered about you via an official Grove City College web site but you do not know how, the college webmaster will assist in locating the persons responsible for that site so that you may make your request directly to them.