Policies & Procedures

Commitment to Privacy

Thank you for visiting one of Longwood University's web sites. We are committed to providing the latest online services to both our visitors and members of the Longwood community. We are also committed to privacy issues, and we would like to take this opportunity to tell you about what information we collect, how we use this information, and your rights concerning this information. By using our web sites, you consent to the collection and use of information by the Longwood University web sites as specified below. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of our policies concerning information collection.

Automatically Collected Information

Nearly all of our web sites may be visited without revealing any personal information about yourself. However, for statistical tracking purposes, there are several pieces of information that we collect from you each time you access our web sites including the computer's IP address, the URL that referred you to our site, the pages you access on our sites, and the type and version of both your operating system and web browser. We also track any terms and phrases that you enter into our search engine service. None of this information is ever used to personally identify you or any other user, but rather it is used to generate reports of site usage. These reports help us to identify what parts of the site are most popular, what search engines visitors are using to find our web sites and what information visitors are having trouble finding. These reports help us determine overall website usage, identify problem areas, and ultimately provide better services for visitors like yourself.

Use of Cookies

For Functionality and Services

Certain functionality and services provided by our web sites may utilize cookies. As an example, cookies are used to remember your font size preferences when visiting the Longwood web site. A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to your web browser from one of our web sites and stored on your computer's hard disk. A cookie cannot read any data off your hard disk, read cookie files created by other web sites or perform any other action against your computer. You can configure your web browser to allow or disallow cookies by changing your browser's options or preferences, but disabling cookies may prevent some areas of our web sites from working properly.

For Statistical Tracking

For statistical tracking purposes, a small cookie may be sent to your computer when accessing certain Longwood University web pages. The unique code/data contained in this cookie is used solely to track visits to our site and/or manage advertising campaigns (for statistical purposes) and is not used to identify individuals.

Longwood University uses pixels, or transparent GIF files, to help manage online advertising. These GIF files are provided by our ad management partner, DoubleClick. These files enable DoubleClick to recognize a unique cookie on your Web browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to our web site. The cookie was placed by us, or by another advertiser that works with DoubleClick. With both cookies and Spotlight technology, the information that we collect and share is anonymous and not personally identifiable. It contains information related to the advertising you clicked on and does not contain your name, address, telephone number, or email address. For more information about DoubleClick, including information about how to opt out of these technologies, go to http://www.doubleclick.net/us/corporate/privacy.

Personal Information

Occasionally there will be a service provided by our web site that will require you to provide personal information. A perfect example is our online admissions application, which you obviously could not complete without providing some personal information. When personal information is requested it will always be preceded by an explanation of why you are being asked to provide this information. If you choose not to provide personal information through our web site, you may be unable to utilize some of the features we offer to our online visitors. When it is possible, we will attempt to provide you with an alternative method for the same service.

External Links

The Longwood University web sites contain a variety of links to other web sites not hosted by us. Longwood University is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any such web site. Content and views presented by these sites may not reflect the views of Longwood University. It is your responsibility to check with other web sites to determine their privacy policies. Also remember that any time you voluntarily disclose information in an unencrypted online forum, such as e-mail, web forms or chat rooms, that information can be collected and used by others. It is ultimately your responsibility to protect your personal information while you are online.

Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have implemented appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online, consistent with the policies of the university and with the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Contact

If you have any questions concerning this privacy statement or our web sites, please email webteam@longwood.edu. If you wish to review or change information gathered about you via an official Longwood Web site but you do not know how, the University web team will assist in locating the persons responsible for that site so that you may make your request for that review or change directly to them.

Last Updated: February 18, 2009