Privacy Policy

This policy discloses the privacy practices applicable to visitors to wfu.edu, the website for Wake Forest University. As used in this policy, the terms “Wake Forest, “the University,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to Wake Forest University, a North Carolina nonprofit corporation. “You” and “your” refer to the individual accessing the web pages owned and controlled by the University.

You may also find within the Wake Forest domain — signified by the address “wfu.edu” or within the range of domains assigned to the Wake Forest — websites over which the University has no editorial responsibility or control. Such sites include but are not limited to the Web pages of individual faculty members, staff members or students and the Web pages of student organizations and other organizations not formally a part of the University. Although the University encourages compliance with all University policies and practices at such websites, the University serves only as a neutral provider of Internet-related services to them. The University recommends that you seek information from the persons responsible for those sites directly to ensure that you know under what policies and practices they operate. Information gathered by these sites could be both automatic (upon access of the website) or voluntary (provided by the user).

Where is information gathered about you?

We automatically collect information from you when you access wfu.edu (see subsection “Device information collected by us”), as well as when you use the following services:

  • Go Links (i.e. short URLs)
  • Add This (i.e. social link sharing)
  • Email newsletters
  • Broken-link submissions

Your information is also collected on an opt-in basis when you submit information using web forms, or by making a payment or gift to the University.

What do we use your information for?

We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our servers, and to administer our website by identifying (1) which parts of our site are most heavily used, and (2) which portion of our audience comes from within the Wake Forest network. We do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable. This means that user sessions will be tracked, but the users will remain anonymous.

We may use an email address you provide to send you information or respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.

We will not sell your information to third-parties, but may provide it to certain entities in circumstances in which we believe that doing so is necessary or appropriate, such as to: satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; or protect the rights, property or safety of us, our users or others.

Device information collected by us

We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device or other device you use to access wfu.edu, such as IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language or other information of this nature. We use this information in an aggregate fashion to track access to wfu.edu. We will not disclose site usage by individual IP addresses unless compelled to do so by law. Web server logs are retained on a temporary basis and then deleted from our systems.

Non-personal information collected by us is shared with companies we partner with for applications used for site functionality or to inform how our site is used. These companies include:

  • Google: Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Site Search
  • Add This: Social link sharing

By using the wfu.edu website and associated sites, you are consenting to the processing of the data about your visit by these companies in the manner and for the purposes that we describe.

In addition, the Wake Forest School of Law has implemented Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting on their website (http://law.wfu.edu) that collects data through Google advertising cookies and identifiers, in addition to data collected through a standard Google Analytics implementation. No personal information will be collected at any time. If you visit http://law.wfu.edu and wish to opt out of this, please refer to these instructions on how to do that.

Cookies

Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer (unless you block them). We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits, and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business.

Third-party cookies

Cookies may be set by an organization other than wfu.edu. These “third-party cookies” may, for example, originate from websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus or other social media services for which wfu.edu has implemented “plug-ins.” Since the cookie policies of these sites change over time, you should determine their policies by visiting the privacy policy pages of these sites directly.

You may disable cookies through your individual browser options. Doing so may prevent you from receiving the full functionality available for our website. If you would like to learn more about cookies generally, you can obtain information the following website: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

We may provide hyperlinks to third-party websites as a convenience to users of wfu.edu. wfu.edu does not control third-party websites and is not responsible for the contents of any linked-to, third-party websites or any hyperlink in a linked-to website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of third-party websites.

Email subscriptions

Many organizations and departments represented within wfu.edu allow you to subscribe to their content via email. If you no longer wish to receive this email, follow the “unsubscribe” instructions located near the bottom of each email. You may choose to remove yourself from a specific email, or all emails to which you’re subscribed.

If you send us email messages, you should be aware that information disclosed in e-mail may not be secure or encrypted and thus may be available to others. We suggest that you exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal or confidential information in e-mail.

E-commerce

Several areas of our website feature web forms for the purpose of facilitating financial transactions. It is University policy that information you input in these forms is used only for the purposes described in that transaction unless an additional use is specifically stated otherwise.

Refunds

Online gifts made to the University can be canceled up to 72 hours after submission for a full refund.

For the University’s Wake Community program specifically:

  • Unless otherwise noted, non-Wake Community event payments can be canceled up to 72 hours before the event occurs for a full refund.
  • Unless otherwise noted, Wake Community event payments are non-refundable. Exceptions may be made due to extreme circumstances which will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Public forums

We may offer chat rooms, blogs, message boards, bulletin boards, or similar public forums where you and other users of our website can communicate. The protections described in this Privacy Policy do not apply when you provide information (including personal information) in connection with your use of these public forums. We may use personally identifiable and non-personal information about you to identify you with a posting in a public forum. Any information you share in a public forum is public information and may be seen or collected by anyone, including third parties that do not adhere to our Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for events arising from the distribution of any information you choose to publicly post or share through our website.

Use of your email address

We will not share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address for commercial purposes without your permission.

Use of your phone number

If consent is given via opt-in, on the apply.admissions.wfu.edu website or other wfu.edu websites, Wake Forest may send automated text and voicemail messages to your phone. By providing your number, you consent to receive notifications from this organization. Reply STOP to unsubscribe. Message and data rates may apply. Your phone number may be shared with third-parties to facilitate automated text messaging and voicemail from Wake Forest. We will otherwise not share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your phone number for commercial purposes without your permission.

Information protection

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information we gather about you, we have taken commercially reasonable steps to protect the information. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.

Users should also consult Wake Forest’s Policy on Responsible and Ethical Use of Computing Resources. To the extent of any conflict between the terms of this privacy policy and the Policy on Ethical Use of Computing Resources, the Policy on Ethical Use of Computing Resources will be deemed controlling. Wake Forest complies with all statutory and legal requirements with respect to access to information.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be amended from time to time, with or without advance notice. Any such changes will be posted on this page. The effective date of this policy was 2/6/2013.

Questions about this policy

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this website, you can contact: web@wfu.edu.