Universities, Student Privacy, and You!

Exploring how Universities can affirm student privacy when working with third party vendors.

Presenter: Alexa "Sunny" Urquhart

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 22-23

Semester: Spring

Department: English

Funding Source/Sponsor: McNair

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Connectivity and Community Engagement

Abstract:
I am exploring the following question: how can universities affirm student privacy when using third parties? This concern first came to my attention when exploring options for another research project, and I was prompted to use a service titled "JSTOR" to look for articles. This service prompted me to log in with my Sonoma credentials to access the content, and I took the time to read the cookie settings, and realized that the website stored information about me, and anyone who visits the website. With this in mind, there are many concerns when it comes to the world of privacy and its intersection with students. In this project, I was able to conduct and in-depth literature review of several novels concerning how technology and websites store data and what they do with it, the laws that are in place to protect the users (or lack thereof), and the future of data collecting. I have also considered case studies with different universities and their approach to students' privacy and their data, and applied my findings into an interview format. This interview will hopefully take place during the summer, where I will engage with students and faculty about their approaches on what is the best way to affirm students' privacy. I would like to thank Rita Premo, and the McNair Scholar Program for supporting me through this project.