Privacy Policy

The Southwest Minnesota State University Alumni Association and Southwest Minnesota State University Foundation values the trust and the relationship it has built with alumni and friends of the university. It is the policy of the Alumni Association and Foundation to respect and protect the privacy of its Web site visitors to the extent permitted by law. The Alumni Association and Foundation wants to ensure network security and consistent service for all users. To do so it employs software programs to do such things as monitor network traffic, identify unauthorized access or access to nonpublic information, and detect viruses and other software that might cause damage to the network. Personally identifiable information from these activities is not released to external parties without your consent unless required by law.

The Alumni Association and Foundation Web site collects and stores the following information from online users:

• The name of the domain from which Internet access occurred 
• The date and time the site was accessed 
• The pages perused and files accessed 
• The Internet address of the Web site preceding the link to the University site 
• Internet protocol addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. 

Data Security

We use appropriate safeguards to ensure the security, integrity, and privacy of personally identifiable information submitted to our site and periodically updates measures with new technologies. When appropriate for data security, the Alumni Association and Foundation uses encryption technologies, user authentication systems, and access control mechanisms.

Personal information:

• If you provide us with personal information in an e-mail message, the Alumni Association and Foundation will use this information to respond to your request. There are times when your e-mail is forwarded within the Alumni Association to employees who are better able to assist you. 
• The Alumni Association and Foundation provides information about alumni to a limited number of pre-screened membership benefit partners so that alumni can be made aware of their services. These benefit partners have been deemed by the Alumni Association to provide a significant service or benefit to our members. By contract, such partners may not release or sell this secured information. 
• Except for the foregoing circumstances and as required by law, the Alumni Association and Foundation does not rent, sell, or share any information it collects with outside organizations without your permission.

Submitting credit card information:

If you choose to submit your credit card information to pay for an Alumni Association event registration or to the SMSU Foundation for a donation, your credit card account number will be processed by a secure third-party service, authorize.net. Credit card numbers are not submitted to the Alumni Association or SMSU Foundation and not stored on University servers. The credit card number is encrypted during transfer to ensure the security of your account information. Click here to review authorize.net's privacy policy.

Links to outside Web sites:

This Web site contains links to other Web sites. Please be aware that the Alumni Association or Foundation is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each Web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.

Refund Policy

Refund requests must be made seven days prior to the date of the event. Should special circumstances arise please contact the office of SMSU Foundation or Alumni Relations at 1-800-260-0970 or e-mail alumni@smsu.edu.

Contact the SMSU Alumni Association or SMSU Foundation:

If you have questions about this policy, or if you would like to remove your information from our database, contact the Southwest Minnesota State University Foundation at 1-800-260-0970, 507-537-6266, or e-mail foundation@smsu.edu or alumni@smsu.edu and include the words "privacy policy" in the subject of your message.