Emeriti Technology Policy

Background

Faculty emeriti are valued members of the Davidson College community. It is the college’s intention to provide ongoing access to technology services and support to faculty emeriti, while recognizing that some IT services and certain types of data may not be available because of the need to comply with legal or contractual restrictions.

Policy

Computing Device

Faculty who are granted emeritus/emerita status by the Davidson College Board of Trustees will be provided appropriate computing technology to support the transition in their role at the College. T&I will, in the year of their transition in status, provide emeriti faculty with a new standard computing device (Windows, Macintosh or iPad Pro, per their individual preference), with T&I collecting in exchange their Tier 1 workstation.

● Each emeritus/emerita faculty member’s new computing device, which will be the individual’s personal property and not eligible for future refresh, will be configured as an unmanaged device and may not be eligible for some software that is restricted to current affiliates or college-owned systems, as outlined in the Davidson College Terms of Service, Section 17.

● As the new computing device is being provided as a benefit to assist the faculty member’s transition to emeriti status, it is considered a taxable benefit and the value of the computer will be reported by the college for tax purposes. Any taxes due on these computers are the responsibility of the faculty emeriti.

● Emeriti faculty who continue to perform teaching/learning, research, mentorship or other related work may, with the annual approval of the Associate Dean for Data & Computing, be loaned a Tier 2 workstation for access to select academic software and resources (including, if appropriate, the Tier 1 workstation exchanged at the time of their transition in status).

Email and Files

Faculty emeriti will have access to send and receive emails at their pre-retirement college email address for the remainder of their lifetime. Similarly, college services for storing and collaborating on files (Google Drive) will remain available. Faculty emeriti access to college email and computing services are subject to college policies and terms of service.

Faculty emeriti retain the full rights to any intellectual property deemed to belong to them under the college’s Intellectual Property Policy.

While emeriti may retain their email addresses/accounts and file storage, two categories of caution apply:

● Student educational records governed by FERPA - reduce and plan to delete. Davidson’s FERPA policy limits access to FERPA record access to “school officials,” a category which does not include retirees or former employees. Emeriti who are no longer employed with the college should not maintain student records beyond three years after the course’s end, as is the recommended practice for continuing faculty.

Emeriti may request that T&I maintain their active Moodle courses for five years after their transition to emeriti status, in case they wish to refer back to materials there for student letters of recommendation.
Emeriti may also choose to archive emails or files containing FERPA data in a Google Drive folder that the Registrar will maintain, if the faculty member believes that they may be needed in the future.
T&I staff can assist faculty during their emeriti transition in identifying and archiving such materials.

● Any other Restricted or Confidential information per the college Data Security Policy - transfer or delete. Such data must be transferred to a college official or deleted from email accounts and files by the last day worked (paid), with the exception of research materials where the faculty member and not the College is contractually obligated for their confidentiality. Examples of these data include:

Personnel reviews or salary information (of staff or faculty other than oneself), search committee records, and any other employee files pertaining to other faculty or staff
Copies of passports, drivers licenses and other state or national identification cards (such as might have been provided for a study abroad program led by the faculty member)
Any materials related to a student’s financial aid award, including student and family tax returns or wealth information
Any materials related to student counseling, student health, or Title IX cases, unless the faculty member has been instructed by general counsel to retain these records (in which case consult with the general counsel)

Recognizing that student files and related materials are often needed for letters of recommendation, former students requesting a letter of recommendation may sign a release with the Registrar’s office granting former faculty members access to their education records. The Registrar as custodian of emeriti faculty FERPA records can then provide emeriti faculty members with access to the faculty emeriti’s files/email archive prepared during their transition of information including final grades for that student as well as email and file records as needed.

Davidson email accounts and files (e.g., Google Drive) are provided for the continued professional activities of faculty emeriti (e.g., research and academic collaborations). Faculty emeriti are advised not to store personal information in these accounts and files. Davidson managed accounts and files will be disabled and deleted following the death of the faculty member, and the college does not provide access to these accounts and files to third parties, including family members, during or after the lifetime of the faculty member.

College Licensed Software and IT Services

Technology & Innovation seeks to provide emeriti with access to popular IT services, including math, statistical and creative software, office productivity software, etc. wherever possible. Many academic software vendors understand the emeritus/emerita role within college life and have provided access to their software to emeriti/retirees. Other vendors do not permit such use under any circumstances. In still other cases, software may be installed on college-owned computers, not personal devices.

T&I will maintain an up to date list of which software is available for emeriti use and whether it may be installed on personal computers or college-owned computers.

Emeriti retain access to public computing workstations on campus, which contain most of the academic software licensed for campus use.

Technology Support

T&I will provide full support to emeriti on the use of their college email account; their Tier 2 workstation, if any; and eligible licensed IT services, equivalent to the level of support provided to faculty and staff.

T&I will make reasonable efforts to provide support for faculty-owned computing devices, personal equipment like smartphones and tablets, and other technology issues consistent with the level of support provided to all members of the college community for personally-owned technology.

Administration of Policy

The CIO and Office of the VPAAA 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.

Last Revised: July 2024