Privacy Statement

At the California Coalition for Public Higher Education (“CCPHE”, “we”, “us”, “our”) we value your support and respect your privacy rights. As a demonstration of our commitment to protecting your rights, we created this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to explain how we treat the information collected and received from your use of our website, www.yestohighered.org, and our social media pages (all Collectively known as “Websites”) This Privacy Policy applies only to the Websites, and we are not responsible for the practices of persons, companies, or websites that CCPHE does not control, manage, or employ. Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use Agreement (“Terms of Use”) and other published guidelines, we do not release personal information about our users without their permission.

What Information this Privacy Policy Covers

Most of our Websites’ functionality can be used without revealing any personal information, though for some specific features or services personal information may be required. If you do not use these specific features or services on the Website, then the only information we collect will be “Non-Personal Information” (i.e., information that is not traceable back to you and cannot be used to identify you). Non-Personal Information includes information such as the web pages that you have viewed. In order to access certain features and benefits on our Website, you may need to submit “Personally Identifiable Information” (i.e., information that can be traced back to you). Personally Identifiable Information can include information such as your name, street address, occupation, employer, telephone number, and email address. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Personally Identifiable Information you submit to CCPHE. Inaccurate information may affect your ability to use the Websites, the information you receive when using the Websites, and our ability to contact you. For example, your email address should be kept current because that is one of the primary manners in which we communicate with you.

What You Consent to by Using Our Websites

Please understand that by submitting any Personally Identifiable Information to us, and/or by using our Websites, you consent and agree that we may collect, use, and disclose such Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, and as permitted or required by law. If you do not agree with these terms, then please do not provide any Personally Identifiable Information to us. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, or if you choose not to provide us with any required Personally Identifiable Information, we may not be able to provide you with the products or services that can be offered on our Websites.

What Information We Collect

We gather two types of information about users through the Websites:

1. Non-Personal Information. When users come to our Websites, we may track, collect and aggregate Non-Personal Information indicating, among other things, which pages of our Website were visited, the order in which they were visited, and which hyperlinks were “clicked.” Collecting such information may involve logging the IP address, operating system and browser software used by each user of the Websites. Although such information is not Personally Identifiable Information, we may be able to determine from an IP address a user’s Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of his or her point of connectivity.

We also use or may use Cookies to help us determine, without limitation, the type of content and sites to which a user of our Websites links, the length of time each user spends at any particular area of our Websites, and the specific functionalities that users choose to use. Essentially, Cookies are a user’s identification card for the CCPHE servers. Cookies allow CCPHE to serve you better and more efficiently, and to personalize your experience at our Websites. Cookies are not used to retain Personally Identifiable Information.

You should be able to control how and whether Cookies will be accepted by your web browser. Most browsers offer instructions on how to reset the browser to reject Cookies in the “Help” section of the toolbar. If you reject our Cookies, certain of the functions and conveniences of this Websites may not work properly, but you do not have to accept our Cookies in order to productively use many functionalities of the Websites.

2. Personally Identifiable Information. We collect Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to us when you sign-up for a subscription to our content, send us email messages, volunteer, participate in a forum, and/or make contributions on our Websites. Among other things, we may use the Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to respond to your questions, provide you the specific services you select, send you videos and/or press releases, send you email messages about Website maintenance and updates, and inform you of significant changes to this Privacy Policy.

a. Updates. CCPHE may offer you the ability to receive updates, such as video, news and press updates from CCPHE either via email or another subscription service such as Facebook or Twitter. In order to subscribe to these services, you may be required to provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name, email address and zip code.

b. Contributions. When making contributions on our Websites, you are required to provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name, street address, occupation, employer, telephone number, billing information and email address.

c. Forums. CCPHE may offer various public forums on the Websites (collectively, the “Forums”) such as a blog, message board, etc. In order to participate in the Forums, you may be required to register with us and/or provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name and email address.

d. Volunteer with CCPHE. In order to volunteer with CCPHE on the Website you are required to provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name, email address and city/state of residence.

e. Communications with CCPHE. We may receive Personally Identifiable Information when you send us an email message or otherwise contact us.

How We Use the Information

Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the different ways CCPHE uses the information that we gather.

1. Non-Personal Information. We use Non-Personal Information in aggregate form to build higher quality, more useful services by performing statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our users, and by measuring demographics and interests regarding specific areas of our Website.

2. Personally Identifiable Information. This Privacy Policy serves as notice that we collect Personally Identifiable Information in the manners described herein. Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or as specifically agreed to by you, CCPHE will not disclose any Personally Identifiable Information we gather from you on the Website. In addition to the other uses set forth in this Privacy Policy, we may disclose and otherwise use Personally Identifiable Information as described below.

a. Updates. We use Personally Identifiable Information collected when you sign-up for our various email or update services to send you the content that you request us to send. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you.

b. Forums. We use Personally Identifiable Information collected during your use of the Forums to facilitate your use of the Forums. In addition we may publish this information either on the Websites and/or in other publications. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you and/or your designee(s).

c. Contributions. We use Personally Identifiable Information collected when you make a donation on our Websites to process your donation (either directly or through our providers), and we may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you. Additionally, some of the information is publically disclosed pursuant to applicable law.

d. Volunteer with CCPHE. We use Personally Identifiable Information collected when you volunteer with CCPHE. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you.

e. Communications with CCPHE. When you send us an email message or otherwise contact us, we may use the information provided by you to respond to your communication and/or as described in this Privacy Policy. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you.

f. Disclosure to CCPHE Operations and Maintenance Contractors. Our operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to your Personally Identifiable Information in the course of providing products or services to us. These contractors may include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content related to the operation and maintenance of the Website. Access to your Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for us.

g. Email List Sharing. We may share your name and email address with our related political committees and other organizations that share a similar purpose to CCPHE.

h. Government Authorities, Legal Rights and Actions. CCPHE may share your Personally Identifiable Information with various government authorities in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; to establish or exercise our legal rights or to protect our property; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases we reserve the right to raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us. We also may share your Personally Identifiable Information when we believe it is appropriate to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of CCPHE, the Websites, our users, customers, or others; and in connection with our Terms of Use and other agreements.

External Links

For your convenience we may provide links to websites operated by companies other than CCPHE (“Third Party Sites”) that we believe may be of interest to you. We do not disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to these Third Party Sites without obtaining your consent. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the privacy practices of these Third Party Sites. If you choose to link to one of these Third Party Sites, you should review the privacy policy posted on the other website to understand how that Third Party Site collects and uses your Personally Identifiable Information.

Confidentiality & Security of Personally Identifiable Information

We consider the confidentiality and security of your information to be of the utmost importance. We will keep your Personally Identifiable Information private and will not share it with third parties, except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, or unless we have good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others. CCPHE takes reasonable measures to protect your Personally Identifiable Information from disclosure to or access by third parties. Please note that we do not guarantee the security of Personally Identifiable Information, and there is some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way to circumvent our security systems or that transmission of your information over the internet will be intercepted. From time to time, and on rare occasions, we may share your contact information with organizations which we believe share our values and perspective.

Updating or Deleting Your Personally Identifiable Information

We maintain a procedure in order to help you confirm that your Personally Identifiable Information remains correct and up-to-date or choose whether or not you wish to receive material from us or some of our partners.

At any time, you may modify your monthly donation details by clicking on the “Change Subscription Info” link and modifying the applicable information. You may also unsubscribe from certain email communications by clicking on the “Unsubscribe” link in those emails. You may also email us at info@yestohighered.org in order to delete or update your Personally Identifiable Information on our systems. We try to answer every email promptly, but may not always be able to do so. Keep in mind, however, that there will be residual information that will remain within our databases, access logs and other records, which may or may not contain your Personally Identifiable Information.

If you have any privacy-related questions or unresolved problems, you may contact CCPHE using the information provided below.

Changing Our Privacy Policy

Please note that we review our privacy practices from time to time, and that these practices are subject to change. Any change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on our Websites. We will notify you of any material change to this Privacy Policy by posting a notice on our Website’s homepage for a reasonable period of time following such update, and by changing the effective date (located at the bottom of this page). Be sure to return to this page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of this Privacy Policy.

International Users

Our Websites are hosted in the United States and are intended for and directed to users in the United States. If you access the Websites from any region or country with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of the Websites, which is governed by U.S. law, this Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Use, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.

Protecting Children’s Privacy

CCPHE strongly believes in protecting the privacy of children. In line with this belief, we do not knowingly collect or maintain Personally Identifiable Information on our Websites from persons under 13 years of age, and no part of our Websites is directed to persons under 13 years of age. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use or access this Websites at any time or in any manner. We will take appropriate steps to delete any Personally Identifiable Information of persons less than 13 years of age that has been collected on our Website without verified parental consent upon learning of the existence of such Personally Identifiable Information.

California Privacy Rights

Under California Law, California residents may have the right to request in writing from businesses with whom they have an established business relationship: (a) a list of the categories of Personally Identifiable Information and the type of services provided to the customer, that a business has disclosed to third parties (including affiliates that are separate legal entities) during the immediately preceding calendar year for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes and (b) the names and addresses of all such third parties. To make such requests, if entitled, please use the contact information listed below.

Contacting California Coalition for Public Higher Education

If you have any questions, comments or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our Websites, please contact us:

California Coalition for Public Higher Education
638 Lindero Canyon Road, #263
Oak Park, California 91377-545

By email: info@yestohighered.org

Revised 9-21-2011