The University App Mandate Pledge (UAMP) is a promise from university leadership that they will take immediate steps to ensure that the privacy of students, faculty, and staff are not undermined by school initiatives to compel the use of invasive and untested technology to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus.
The ability to work or learn at a university must not come at the cost of surrendering one's right to privacy. Every individual who is part of our campus community must have a choice when it comes to what sort of location or health data they offer to health professionals, external vendors, and the institution itself. To mandate apps which collect such sensitive information puts the most vulnerable members of our community at risk.
That is why [School name] hereby pledges to lift any and all existing mandates on students, faculty, and staff to use tracking devices and/or install tracking applications on their personal devices. While [School name] may encourage the use and development of these tools, no one will be penalized for choosing not to participate.
To also ensure all participants in these programs are fully informed, [School name] will also work to provide up-to-date and accessible information, including:
- Our contracts with the external vendors of these applications or devices
- What information is collected about the users, for what purposes, and specifically which technologies are utilized in this collection
- How this information is handled, and what specific steps are taken to ensure this data is secure
- Which entities, internal or external to the university itself, handle or have access to this data
- Whether or not the university or external vendors grant access to collected data available to federal, state or local law enforcement
- Up to date information about issues and vulnerabilities in technologies employed, with these updates being as detailed as possible without exacerbating risk.