PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy is meant to help you understand what data Wilbraham & Monson Academy collects when you use our website, (the “Website”), why we collect it, what we do with it and how we protect it.
Wilbraham & Monson Academy (“WMA”) is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. This is important, so we hope you will take time to read this policy carefully.
The terms “we,” “our” and “us” in this Privacy Policy refer to WMA. “You” and “your” refer to you. With respect to the Website and your use of it, or by engaging with WMA via email, you signify that you have read this Privacy Policy and agree to it. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please promptly exit the Website.
When this Privacy Policy Applies
Our Privacy Policy does not apply to materials, solicitations, websites, or services that have separate privacy policies that do not incorporate this Privacy Policy. In particular, the website may contain links to non-WMA websites or direct you to other websites when you use certain functionality on the website, such as when you make a donation or gift to WMA. Once you have used these links and/or been redirected to leave our website, we do not have any control over the other websites you visit and we are not responsible for their privacy practices.
WMA is located in the United States of America and is subject to the laws of the United States of America. If you are located in the European Union or elsewhere and you voluntarily submit personal information to us, your information will be used as provided in this Privacy Policy.
What Information Does WMA Collect?
We collect the following information:
- Information you give us. We receive and store information you enter on the Website or give to us in other ways, such as through email. For example, we store the information you provide us when you request information from our Admission Office through the “Request Information” page of the website.
- Automatic Information generated from user interaction with the website. We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with the website. For example, like many websites, we use “cookies” (which are discussed in more detail below). We also use Google Analytics, which collects additional site usage data (this is also discussed in more detail below).
How We Use the Information That We Collect
WMA uses the information we collect for the legitimate interests of WMA and to provide, maintain, protect and improve our services. This includes but is not limited to the following:
- To provide you with information you request;
- To inform our marketing strategy and approach;
- To track user engagement across mobile, desktop and other device platforms;
- To answer your questions;
- To contact you about the opportunities WMA has to offer;
- To correspond and maintain internal records regarding your inquiries about the Website (including this Privacy Policy) and other matters you may want to discuss with us;
- To maintain reports which may track personal website and email traffic activity for the purpose of improving communications and providing the best services possible to visitors/users, including determining the content of greatest interest to website visitors and the types of devices accessing the website;
- To restore lost data or help resolve website visitor issues;
- For research and statistical purposes;
- To provide you with information about WMA events that you might be interested in attending;
- For compliance with legal obligations, to respond to subpoenas, court orders or other legal process, and to enforce our agreements;
- To prevent or investigate fraud or other unlawful activity, and to protect the security of WMA’s property, the website and other systems;
- To meet the obligations of private organizations with oversight over WMA, such as accreditation organizations; and/or
- To protect the health, safety or rights of you, other students, faculty, staff and visitors
Disclosure of User Information to Third Parties
Your information may be shared with contractors and/or other third-party partners to the extent necessary for those organizations to provide services to us or to other users of the website.
We may also provide your information to third parties in the following circumstances:
- If you have provided us with consent to do so;
- We are legally required to do so, for example, in response to a subpoena, court order or other legal process;
- It is necessary to protect the legal rights, privacy, or safety of our organization, its subsidiaries, and/or affiliates, or our employee, agents and/or contractors;
- To protect against fraud or other illegal activity or for risk management purposes;
- To protect the safety and security of visitors to the website; and/or
- To permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that you may sustain.
We also may share aggregate, non-personal information about website usage with third parties. This aggregate information does not contain any personal information about our users.
How We Protect Information
We exercise care to protect your personal information. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. This includes, among other things, using industry standard techniques such as firewalls, encryption (when appropriate) and intrusion detection. In addition, we limit our employees’ and contractors’ access to personal information. Only those employees and contractors with a business reason to know have access to this information. We also educate our employees about the importance of maintaining confidentiality of your information.
While we strive to protect the information you provide to us, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from us. This is especially true for information you transmit to us via email, as we have no way of protecting that information until it reaches us.
How We Use “Cookies”
We use a technology on our website called “cookies” to collect and store information when you visit the Website related to how our site is used. A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use cookies to keep track of information about your current web browsing session which will be discarded as soon as you log out or close your web browser. This information also allows us to statistically monitor how many people are using our site and for what purpose. We use cookies to recognize new visitors to WMA websites, recognize past users, better understand the interests of users and website visitors, and improve the website to enhance the visitor experience. We may also make use of “persistent or memory based” cookies, which remain on your computer’s hard drive until you delete them.
We also use the services of Google Analytics, and may use other similar services, to collect and analyze statistical data about visitors to our website. We also use Google advertising services, and may use other similar services, to arrange for you to see WMA advertisements when you visit certain third-party websites. These analytic and advertising services may collect personally identifiable information. To see the full Google Analytics privacy policy you can visit their privacy overview page.
Notice for Persons in the European Union
Data Controller and Legal Basis for Processing. WMA is the data controller for your information collected on the website, and when we collect and process your information, we rely on your consent or our legitimate interests as the legal basis to do so.
Your Rights. Data subjects located in the EU are granted rights with respect to their information and we are committed to facilitating the exercise of the following rights: the right to access your information, to ask for erasure, correction, restriction, portability of your information, the right to withdraw consent and the right to object to certain processing of your information. You also have the right to submit a complaint to the relevant Data Protection Authority in your country of residence.
Retention. We endeavor to keep personal information in our records only as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and processed.
Transfers of Data. When you interact with us, your personal information may be transferred to the United States. Because the European Commission has deemed the United States not to offer an adequate level of data protection, we rely on alternative transfer mechanisms to ensure that the transfer of your information to the United States is lawful.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. You should check this page from time to time to make sure you accept any changes that we make. If we make significant changes to our privacy practices we will provide a notice of changes to this policy. This Privacy Policy is effective as of Feb. 22, 2022.
Click here for a pdf of the Privacy Policy
Current terms of Privacy Policy effective as of Feb. 22, 2022.