College Access to Electronic Communications and Files Policy

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Offices and Services

College Access to Electronic Communications and Files Policy

Background

Davidson College encourages the appropriate use of technology services according to the terms of the campus policies—the Technology Terms of Service, Data Security Policy, and other college policies published on the Technology & Innovation (T&I) and College Policy Library websites.  Access to some or all of these technology services is provided by the college to certain designated employees for use in the performance of individual job responsibilities or academic programs. These technology services are an extension of the workplace and college and, as such, use is subject to this policy and all other applicable college policies.

Purpose

This policy seeks to inform the campus community of the college’s right to inspect any electronic communication or file created, viewed, transmitted, recorded, stored, or posted with any Davidson College technology service.

Policy

All documents, communications, messages or other information created, transmitted, recorded, stored or posted through the use of the college's technology services should be done in a professional manner.  Inappropriate or unprofessional use of these resources may damage the college's reputation and, in some cases, create legal liability for the college and the individual employee or student.

Under no circumstances may an employee or student use college-provided technology services to create, view, transmit, record, store or post a document, voicemail or e-mail or other type of message or data that violates federal, state, or local laws, or the college's policies; including, but not limited to, the college's non-discrimination and non-harassment policy. All forms of such data are prohibited regardless of whether or not anyone ever sees or knows about the material.

The college's telephones, communication devices, voicemail facilities, computers and other electronic equipment, e-mail facilities, software applications, and other technology services are owned and controlled by Davidson College. As such, the college, and its designated staff, may inspect and monitor, when necessary as a function of responsible system management or when there is reasonable cause, all files stored on college computers, systems and other technology services.

Although the college does not inspect the contents of computer files, electronic mail or other resources on a regular basis, it does have the right to access and disclose the contents of such resources without consent of the user.

Employees and others should have no expectation that any information created, transmitted, recorded, stored or posted on or with the use of the college's resources will remain private. However, the college’s right to access materials on college electronic resources does not automatically grant the college ownership of such materials; questions of ownership are governed by Davidson’s Intellectual Property Policy.

Definitions

Technology services include, among other things: college-supplied telephones, mobile phones, wireless communication devices, and voicemail facilities; college-supplied computers, fax machines, copiers and related equipment; college-supplied e-mail facilities; software applications, whether hosted at Davidson or by a third-party partner; and college-supplied network access, including Internet and extranet facilities.

Monitoring technology services consists of actions taken to ensure the proper functioning of a technology service, including automated and human reviews of usage, storage, system permissions and access rights, and non-private information about data transmissions, such as source, destination, sender, recipient, subject line, file name, etc. Review of metadata about the contents of electronic communications or resources stored on technology services is included in the scope of monitoring.

Inspection in the context of technology services and other electronic resources includes the review or examination of the content of files, email messages and attachments, data entries in applications, etc. 

Administration of Policy

The Chief Information Officer shall oversee this policy and review it at least once every two years.  Changes to this policy shall be made in accordance with the college’s Policy on Policies.

The college will inspect or monitor computer files, electronic mail, or uses of other technology services when it believes it has a legitimate business interest or need, including, but not limited to:

  1. Responsible maintenance and management of systems.
  2. To prevent the loss of institutional information.
  3. Preventing or investigating unauthorized access and system misuse.
  4. Investigating reports of employee misconduct.
  5. Complying with legal requests for information (such as subpoenas).
  6. Emergencies, including but not limited to:
    1. Threats to health, safety, or campus property.
    2. When necessary to protect resources and system accounts and data from damage.
    3. When necessary to prevent loss or destruction of files or mail to be seized.
    4. Incident to or following a lawful arrest.

As a general matter, actual inspection of files and electronic mail and other technology services will be carried out after consultation with and approval of:

  • The Chief Human Resources Officer (for employees) or Vice President of Student Life (students);
  • The Chief Information Officer;
  • The General Counsel; and,
  • The appropriate vice president or division head (for employees). 

The President may substitute for any one of the above four approvers, as may the designee, interim or acting administrator holding any of the above roles.

In matters where any delay to seek administrative approval may create a peril to life safety or impede the college’s ability to respond to an active, critical cybersecurity attack, any two of the above administrators may approve inspection of files, e-mail and technology services on their own responsibility and provide concurrent notification to the other approvers.

However, administrative inspection is pre-authorized for certain routine or time-sensitive activities, including:

  1. Transfer of resources, electronic mail and/or files to a manager, department or division head, and/or College archives when an employee leaves their position. In doing so, the College asserts no rights to intellectual property beyond those defined in the College’s Intellectual Property Policy.

  2. Inspection of email messages, files and other electronic resources believed by automated monitoring or user reports to contain viruses, malware, phishing or other threats.

  3.  Review of campus security camera recordings by individuals authorized by the Chief of Campus Police as authorized by appropriate policies.

  4.  Review of door access records and other CatCard usage by the CatCard Office or others as authorized by the Issuance and Proper Use of College ID Cards (CatCards) Governing Policy. 

In all cases including pre-authorized administrative pre-inspection, any requests to provide or release information from e-mail, files, door access records, security video recordings, and other technology services pursuant to a law enforcement request, subpoena or other legal process must be reviewed and approved by the General Counsel and/or college outside counsel.

Last Revised: March 2026