Williams College Privacy Notice

Williams College is committed to respecting the privacy of information and data that may be used to identify you, such as your full name or email address (your “personal information”). This Privacy Notice describes our policies and practices regarding the most common ways we collect and use personal information.

In all cases, Williams endeavors to apply appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy and security of your personal information, particularly sensitive data, and to use it in a manner consistent with this notice. Our privacy policies do not apply to non-personal information that does not identify you as a specific person, for example, interests and anonymized data. They also do not apply to publicly available information (for example, about your online activity or from commercially available sources) that we do not possess or control.

Information We Collect and How We Use Your Personal Information

Prospective Students and Applicants

Williams collects and uses personal information about applicants and other prospective students (referred to collectively as “applicants”). If you are or have been an applicant, we may collect and use the following types of personal information about you:

  • Information and supporting documentation that you provide in your application, including through third parties such as The Common Application, The Coalition Application, and Questbridge
  • Related application materials (e.g., transcripts, recommendations, references, and test scores)
  • Information that you have permitted a third party such as The College Board or ACT to release to Williams (e.g., test scores, demographic information, academic information)
  • Contact information that we receive from you, from other institutions, or from vendors who conduct advertising activities for us
  • Financial information (e.g., information collected in connection with your applications for financial aid, loans, or scholarships)
  • Survey responses, if you choose to respond to a survey sent by us or on our behalf

Williams will use your personal information primarily for our legitimate interests in evaluating your application, and for related activities, like evaluating requests for financial aid, communicating with you about your application or potential application, and for other administrative functions related to our admissions and enrollment process.

To the extent applicable, we may also use or disclose your personal information for the following purposes, based on our legitimate interests:

  • For compliance with legal obligations
  • To consider requests for accommodations
  • For research and statistical purposes
  • To provide you with information about Williams, including events that you might be interested in attending
  • To send you surveys for research purposes

We may share your information with the following individuals and entities, as applicable and to the extent permitted by law:

  • Individuals who assist us in the application process, such as faculty and outside consultants
  • Governmental bodies as necessary for compliance with law
  • Other departments within Williams, including Institutional Research
  • Your financial institutions and funders (e.g., as necessary for obtaining loans, scholarships, or other funding)
  • Other educational institutions (e.g., in order to send you information about jointly hosted informational events)
  • Vendors who provide services to the college

Students, Faculty, and Staff

When you are a student at Williams, or a member or prospective member of the faculty and staff, we maintain records containing your personal information. We may collect and use the following types of personal information about you, as applicable:

  • Your contact information and biographical data (e.g., name, address, date of birth, race, ethnicity)
  • Application materials and supporting documents (e.g., applications for admission or employment)
  • Copies of identification documents and other official documents (e.g. driver’s license, I-9 form, passport/visa information)
  • Employment and/or educational records (e.g., job history, job reviews, transcript information)
  • Academic record, work product, and related information (e.g., research and course-related content)
  • Internal research and survey data (e.g. course evaluations)
  • Records about your other activities (e.g., for students, involvement in clubs, disciplinary actions and similar incidents)
  • Financial information (e.g., payroll information, information related to tuition payments)
  • Certain health information (e.g., disclosed disabilities, allergies)
  • Information about technology usage (e.g., IP addresses, software licensing)
  • Motor vehicle records, in connection with an application to drive college vehicles

To the extent applicable, we use this information for the following purposes necessary for your student or employment relationship with Williams, as well as for our other legitimate interests:

  • For general communications about Williams
  • To provide educational, employment, and/or related services (e.g., maintaining relevant records of your studies or employment; providing you with access to facilities and support services, such as counseling and IT services)
  • To administer financial aspects of the relationship (e.g., payroll, collecting tuition, coordinating with lenders or other funders)
  • To enable your participation in events and other opportunities (e.g., graduation, study abroad programs, internships)
  • To protect your safety and health and that of other students, faculty, staff, and visitors, and to protect the educational integrity of the school (e.g., security operations, disciplinary actions, assistance in the event of an emergency)
  • To accommodate special needs (e.g., disability accommodations)
  • For research and statistical purposes related to our educational work and/or related services
  • To fulfill our responsibilities under applicable law (e.g., employer obligations, immigration, Title IX)
  • To provide basic contact information in student, faculty, and/or staff directories. Faculty and staff may visit the Human Resources FAQ to learn how to control which information is displayed; students may do the same by viewing the instructions on the Registrar’s site.

Most health information about students is stored in the records of the college’s Health and Wellness Services, although some is stored in other locations. Please refer to the Williams College Health and Wellness Service confidentiality practices for additional information.

As applicable and to the extent permitted by law, we may share your personal information with the following:

  • Faculty and staff at Williams, in order to enable them to fulfill their responsibilities
  • Your lenders, funders, and/or other sponsors
  • With your approval to providers of external programs, such as study abroad programs, internships, and other collaborations
  • Host institutions and host families, in conjunction with your participation in study abroad or faculty or student exchange programs
  • Student clubs and related organizations
  • Governmental bodies, including as necessary for compliance with law and law enforcement authorities
  • Private organizations with oversight over Williams, such as accreditation agencies
  • Vendors who provide services to the college
  • Individuals or entities inquiring about your attendance or employment history

Alumni and Other Supporters

Williams holds personal information related to its alumni and other supporters (such as donors, prospective donors, volunteers, and family members of students). If you are one of our alumni or otherwise a friend or supporter of the college, we may collect and use the following types of personal information about you:

  • Academic information (e.g., major, transcript, degree)
  • Biographical information (e.g., name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity)
  • Contact information (e.g., email address, phone number)
  • Your activities at Williams (e.g., club memberships)
  • Your involvement with Williams and other interests (e.g., attendance at events, philanthropic interests)
  • Family information (e.g., marital status, name of spouse)
  • Health information (e.g., disability, food allergies)
  • Financial information (e.g., history of donations, wealth information)
  • Employment information
  • Survey and interest information

Williams collects and uses data about alumni and other supporters where it is necessary for our legitimate interests. We may obtain the data from various sources, including information obtained directly from you (for example, when you fill out a form on our website), as described below. We also retain and may use information from your student records if you studied here. We also collect information from public sources, such as social media, and from third parties, including companies that conduct wealth screenings.

Your personal information is used to provide you with certain alumni services, and for our legitimate interests in maintaining alumni relationships and conducting fundraising activities, including:

  • Sending you informational publications (e.g., Williams Magazine, newsletters from departments and clubs you may have an interest in) or other college communications
  • Conducting surveys, so that we can learn more about our alumni and other supporters
  • Providing services (e.g., networking opportunities and ongoing career services)
  • Sending you information about fundraising campaigns, events, mentoring and volunteer opportunities that may be of interest to you
  • Conducting wealth analysis and research to understand your philanthropic interests and ability to give, in order to ensure that our fundraising efforts are tailored to your interests
  • For administrative purposes (e.g., processing donations and issuing tax receipts, or managing events, such as reunions)
  • For research and statistical purposes
  • To publicly acknowledge gifts (with the consent of the donor)
  • To meet legal obligations

As applicable and to the extent permitted by law, we may share your personal information with the following:

  • Williams departments, clubs, and interest groups
  • Other Williams alumni (limited contact information only)
  • The Society of Alumni of Williams College, specific alumni clubs and organizations and similar affiliates
  • Other individuals or entities with a legitimate interest in your personal information, such as scholarship supporters
  • Third parties engaged by Williams to assist with the activities listed here

For All Categories of People

For all categories of people, Williams may use or disclose your personal information to the extent necessary to protect the rights of the college. This includes situations in which the college has a good-faith belief that disclosure is necessary in order to protect, enforce or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, security or property of Williams, its employees, students, or members of the public; to protect against fraud; or for other risk management purposes.

Website Visitors

The Williams College website is an information system intended to present an integrated view of the College to prospective students, alumni, the members of the Williams community, and others with an interest in the college. This website uses technologies, including cookies. Cookies are text files placed on your computer by a web server, enabling the site to recognize you and keep track of your preferences. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by changing your browser settings. If you choose to decline cookies, some features on this website may not work properly.

If you visit the Williams website to view or download information, a standard log file will record:

  • the name of the domain from which you access the Internet
  • the date and time of your visit
  • the page/s you visit
  • your computing platform

This data is used in the aggregate for purposes of analyzing site traffic, managing the site, and providing accountability regarding the usefulness of our work.

If you use our website to complete forms, use our systems, or submit information to us (such as through our alumni and supplier registration pages), we will collect and use the information that you provide to us, as well as information such as your name, username, email address, and mailing address.

Personal information collected on this website is not disclosed to third parties unless the third party is an institutionally authorized provider of services to the college. Users of these services are subject to the privacy policies established by the third-party provider. One such third-party provider of services is Google, Inc. Williams, like many organizations, uses Google Analytics to analyze aggregate website traffic so that we can make the site more useful to our visitors.

The college web site contains links to many outside sites that are beyond our control. Williams is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those other sites. This is true even if you use your Williams-college related username to log into an outside site, or if you are connecting to a Williams College-related account on such a platform (for example, the college’s official Facebook page). In these cases, use of your data is governed by the provider’s privacy policies, not by Williams. Public information in posts (e.g., name, user name, comments, status updates, profile info, picture) are always public.

Transfer of Information to the United States

Williams College is located in the United States. Information we collect from you will be processed in the United States. The United States has not sought nor received a finding of “adequacy” from the European Union, which means that the data protection laws in the United States may not offer you the same protections as in the country in which you are residing when the personal information is collected. With respect to transfers from the European Union, Williams generally relies on regulatory exceptions that allow for the transfer of information in specific situations. In particular, Williams College collects and transfers personal information to the United States only with your consent, to perform on a contract with you (or in your interest), or to fulfill a compelling legitimate interest of Williams College in a manner that does not outweigh your rights and freedoms. In some circumstances, the college may enter into standard contractual clauses governing the import of personal information. In all cases, Williams endeavors to apply suitable safeguards to protect the privacy and security of your personal information, particularly sensitive data, and to use it in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Notice.

Retention of Data

Williams retains personal information about students and alumni indefinitely for the purpose of alumni relationships, academic record-keeping, and archiving purposes. Other personal information will be retained in accordance with applicable Williams College data retention policies.

Communications from Williams College

Williams College and the Society of Alumni of Williams College periodically send marketing communications to alumni, supporters, and other members of the Williams community, such as newsletters, event invitations, and fundraising information. If you would like to request that

Williams or its Society of Alumni limit or stop these communications with you, please contact us at [email protected]. If you ask to be removed from our mailing lists, we will retain your contact information to ensure that we continue to honor your request in the future.

Individual Rights

If you are located in the European Union, you may have the following legal rights under applicable European law with respect to the personal information processed by Williams College:

To withdraw consent at any time, if we are processing your personal information on the basis of consent

  • To access the information that Williams has about you
  • To request that Williams College rectify or erase your information
  • To request that Williams restrict the way it uses your information
  • To object to the way the college uses your information
  • To ask Williams to transfer your information to someone else
  • To lodge a complaint with a data protection authority in the European Union

The college’s ability or obligation to comply with your requests may be limited by applicable law.

To request to exercise one of these rights, please contact us at [email protected].

Changes to this Privacy Notice

Williams reserves the right to amend this Privacy Notice at any time, for any reason, without notice to you. Any changes will be published, and our website will always carry the most current version. This Privacy Notice was last updated on October 19, 2018.

Contact Information

The controller of the personal information described in this Privacy Notice is:

Williams College
880 Main Street, Hopkins Hall
Williamstown, MA 01267
Attn: Associate VP Finance and Administration

Questions, concerns, requests, or complaints regarding this Privacy Notice and the processing of personal information by Williams should be directed to [email protected].