Skip to Main Content

Privacy Policy

South Texas Law School of Law Houston (“Law School”) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information of users and visitors to its website. The Law School collects certain kinds of data from users and visitors as they browse the site.  The following policy details the types of information collected, how it is used, and the rights of users and visitors.

The Law School collects personally identifiable information (“PII”) from users and visitors to its website.  The Law School has legitimate reasons for collecting PII and is responsible for protecting it. This policy explains the types of PII that are collected, the reasons PII is collected, how PII is collected, how PII is used, and how PII is protected by the Law School in compliance with various applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

Reason for the Policy

This policy explains the Law School’s use of personal data of website users and visitors and the protections it provides for that information.  

Who is Responsible for this Policy

The Law School’s Marketing & Communications department is responsible for the maintenance of this policy and for responding to any questions regarding it. If you have any questions or comments about this policy, please contact the vice president, marketing and communications.

Who is Governed by This Policy

This policy applies to all individuals who access or use the Law School’s website.

Policy

Information Collected/Use of Collected Information

The Law School collects PII from students, faculty and staff and other community members as necessary in the exercise of its legitimate interests, functions, and responsibilities as a higher education institution. 

The Law School also collects information from website users to improve the site experience. Our web server recognizes the domain, service provider, operating system, and browser used. Some PII provided by website users may be used to fulfill requests to participate in our programs and activities, receive services, and to respond to requests for information. The Law School does not collect any PII about individual users such as names, email address, mailing address, phone numbers, or the like, except when the user voluntarily provides it. PII is not required to access the website. 

Third party service providers who have entered into contracts with the Law School to support its operations and policies may receive personal information of community members and other website users for specific authorized purposes. Information shared with such third party service providers will be subject to appropriate safeguards to prevent further unauthorized disclosure.

The Law School may use and disclose de-identified information without limitation.

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of electronic information stored by your internet browser on behalf of a website and returned to the website on request. This site may use cookies for two purposes: 1) to carry data about your current session at the site from one page to the next, and 2) to identify you between visits to the site.

The Law School uses Google Analytics which is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information such as URLs, Internet domain and host names, browser software, the date and time that the user visits the site, and other general information. This information is used to monitor the effectiveness of the website and to consider potential improvements to the website. The information is non-personal and is transmitted to and stored by Google on its servers.  

If you do not want to receive cookies, you may turn them off in your browser or you may set your browser to ask you before accepting a new cookie. Keep in mind some pages may not function properly if cookies are turned off.

Information Collected by Third Party Sites

In some places on the Law School’s website users may find links to third party websites. Users who open those links should be aware of the privacy policies of those sites as the Law School does not control or have knowledge of other website privacy policies.

Collected Information that is Shared

PII will not be sold, rented, given away, or traded by the Law School. PII may be shared only under the following circumstances:

  • when the provider has given consent, 
  • in response to subpoenas or court orders, or
  • for the legitimate purposes for the operation of the Law School’s business.

Protection of Collected Information

The Law School has appropriate physical, electronic, and administrative procedures to safely maintain and help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and ensure proper usage of the information collected, including secure information transmission, storage, and retrieval.

The Law School uses industry-standard security technology to protect the confidentiality of transactions made on our website. This technology also helps protect your online transaction information from access by unauthorized parties.

Protection of Privacy of Children

The Law School does not knowingly collect personal information about children under age thirteen, except when directly related to relevant Law School activities or programs.

Consent

By using the Law School’s website or electronic publications you agree to the collection, use, maintenance, and possible disclosure of your PII as described in this policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this statement, then do not use the site or any such publication. BY USING THIS SITE, YOU AGREE TO OUR COLLECTION, USE, AND MAINTENANCE OF YOUR INFORMATION.

Definitions

Personal Data is collectively all information you provide the Law School during the use of this site.

Personally Identifiable Information is any information that relates to or identifies a person as an individual.

Applicable Acts, Laws, Regulations and Laws

Electronic resource use is subject to many laws and regulations. Suspected violations of applicable law are subject to investigation by the Law School and possibly law enforcement officials. Among the applicable laws are:

  • Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.
  • General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR): a European Union (EU) data privacy regulation, effective May 25, 2018, protecting the personal data of EU subjects or others physically located in the EU that is collected by the Law School.