Internal Vs. External Uses

The HUID database is designed for the internal use of Harvard University only. Access to information in this database will be denied to anyone outside the University, unless approved by the Office of the General Counsel.

Sanctioned and Non-Sanctioned Student Organizations

This database will not be used to create printed images of members of student organizations not sanctioned as official University organizations. The individual School or Faculty alone shall determine whether it wishes to print images of student organizations which have been sanctioned as official University organizations. This database may in no way be used as a dating service.

Database Sweeps by Criteria

The database shall have no data element which would allow sweeps for the purpose of obtaining information that could possibly be used for discriminatory purposes or to determine identity by physical attribute.

There shall be no data element referring to an individual's race, sexual preference, religion, national origin or citizenship. There shall be no data element referring to an individual's color, weight, height, eye color, hair color, blood type or any other physical attribute.

As much as possible, the data elements included are only as specific as absolutely required for identification cards, faculty photo directories and operations. The database will include such elements as name, HUID number, school or faculty, student or employee status, graduation date, appointment end date, board code, house code and affiliation. There will be no data elements referring to any information such as salary amount. No person outside HUID Services will have access to Social Security numbers. Access for other sanctioned purposes such as house facebooks, seating plans, membership rosters and organizational charts requires a match of the database with a dataset of ID numbers of the specific individuals in a particular grouping.

Copying Data to Another Database

The copying of data from this database to be used in another for purposes of bypassing any of the above restrictions, or without written permission, is prohibited. Permission to copy image data will be considered only upon receipt of written request by an Officer of the University and subsequent approval of both the Faculty or Department and the database administrator, and possible consultation with the Office of the General Counsel. The request must detail both the nature and elements of the database and how the data is to be used.

Rights of the University to Capture and use Digital Images

The use of digitized images for ID cards and for academic and security purposes at the university is a condition of employment for all employees, and a condition of enrollment for all students. The University is within its rights to require images for the purposes of security and academic integrity. Specifically, the University may use digitally recorded images of its populations for identification purposes including identification cards, security systems, and classroom and exam proctor lists.

Requests for exemptions from having a photo ID will be reviewed by the Office of the General Counsel and will be granted only in extreme circumstances.

Should no previous objection be recorded, the University may print images of students, staff, faculty or administrators in its many traditional house/dorm facebooks, class books or organizational charts, for purposes within the University. Should no previous objection be recorded, the University may print images in internal publications of students or faculty receiving degrees or awards.

Should permission be given, the University may distribute prints of all students and faculty receiving degrees or awards outside the University. Images will not be distributed from this database for purposes of negative publicity or publicity that could endanger a member of our community.