Davidson Expands Digital Surveillance Powers
New policy grants administrators access to student emails, files, CatCard data, and security footage, raising concerns over transparency and privacy.
Davidson’s Technology & Innovation Department (T&I) expanded the college’s power to access and monitor student data Tuesday morning when they published their updated “College Access to Electronic Communications and Files Policy”.
The 2025 draft expands the 2018 policy, which only applied to “employees and others,” and restricted inspections to malware checks and departing staff transfers. The new policy explicitly extends to student data, authorizing inspections of any data produced through college-provided platforms, including emails and documents. It also expands these inspections to include reviews of campus security cameras and CatCard records, and opens the door to metadata monitoring such as subject lines and file names.
Under this new policy, inspections generally require approval from four senior administrators: the Chief Human Resources Officer (for employees) or Vice President of Student Life (for students), the Chief Information Officer, the General Counsel, and the appropriate vice president or division head.
But in the case of a cyberattack, only two administrators are needed for an inspection. This is likely in response to last year’s major cyberattack against third-party service Drivestream, which exposed personally identifiable information for some Davidson students and employees.
The policy does not clarify what situations fall outside of general procedures. Some students worry this ambiguity may lead to overreach.
“Systems such as blockchains show us that security doesn't have to come at the price of transparency,” said Jackson Sichelstiel, co-president of the Davidson Blockchain Club. “If the college wants to adopt stronger monitoring powers, it should also adopt stronger safeguards to ensure those powers aren't misused.”
“Innovation and open dialogue thrive best when people feel secure in their communications,”
Sichelstiel continued, “not when worrying that conversations could be inspected without clear justification.”
In the absence of disclosure, some students now assume that they are being watched at all times.
“I hate that T&I can constantly scrape the data on who I work with and where I go,” said one student, who preferred to remain anonymous. “Even if they don’t actually do it, why is that fair play?”
The Davidson College Technology and Innovation Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Unless students raise concerns during the short comment window, the policy will go live October 7.