The enforcement of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) latest technology policy is on hold. The policy, which originally took effect April 1, would allow MnSCU to inspect employee-owned cellphones that are used for business. MnSCU has decided not to enforce the policy until faculty unions can agree on new language.

The MnSCU Collective Bargaining Coalition announced that they will be working with employers to put together a work group to “expeditiously look for alternative language” to the policy. The work group will include representatives from IFO, MAPE, AFSCME, and MnSCU administrators.

The rule stated that MnSCU employees “may be required” to hand over personal devices for employer inspection for reasons including safety concerns, misconduct investigations, or “another legitimate business purpose.” The vagueness of the provision had employees concerned.

“[It’s] a free pass to go on a fishing expedition,” Kevin Lindstrom, president of the Minnesota State College Faculty told the Star Tribune.

Jonathan Bohn, IFO Director of Public Affairs, said the Inter Faculty Organization (IFO) will request that the wording of the policy be changed to include a seizure request and follow a subpoena process. The IFO feels this would better maintain employee rights.

Bohn said that adjunct professors would benefit most from reevaluating the policy because they are not issued devices by the university. Under MnSCU’s language, that means they would be forced to put their personal data at risk.

The IFO was initially surprised by the timing of the procedure. Bohn said when the IFO met during their March Meet and Confer, they were expecting an update on the progress of the policy, and perhaps to give further suggestions. They were instead told that the policy was finished and signed.

“We are upset that they rebuffed our concerns and passed the policy without letting us know,” Bohn said.

MnSCU maintained that the IFO had ample time to provide feedback to the policy.

“The Inter Faculty Organization was fully consulted and had several opportunities to offer changes,” said Doug Anderson, Director of Communication and Media for MnSCU. “In fact, the proposed changes were announced, under review, and available for comments from Dec. 31, 2015 through Feb. 3, 2016.”

“Time was not the biggest issue,” Bohn said. “We provided feedback and many of our concerns were addressed; however, our big concern was not addressed.”

BC Franson, lawyer and professor of justice administration at SMSU does not believe the policy change was needed.

“I think that if [MnSCU] is truly concerned about confidential data, then they need to come at it in a different way to make sure we understand what is confidential and what isn’t,” Franson said. “And I think most of us do. So, I think they are making this policy change for no real reason.”

MnSCU officials reassured employees that the new policy’s intent was to protect private data, and not to look through employee’s personal information. Doug Anderson said the procedure acts to alert employees of the state law regarding the use of personal devices for work. But, the legality of the rule is questionable.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in Riley v. California that cellphones are private property and that law enforcement must have a warrant to search cellphones.

“If the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement for the purposes of stopping crime can’t look at your phone without a warrant, I don’t think the employer can on the idea that maybe there’s data on it,” Franson said.

Franson suspects that one of MnSCU’s main privacy concerns is the “remember password” feature on the e-services site. If an employee enables this feature on a personal device and it gets lost or stolen, student private data could easily be accessed.

“If that’s all they are worried about, what they need to do is disable that feature that allows it to be saved as an automatic password,” Franson said.

Employee concerns will be addressed as the work group drafts new language acceptable to the system office. The MnSCU Collective Bargaining Coalition will review and approve any work group proposed changes.

“We are happy that the objectionable parts of the policy have been temporarily suspended and we are cautiously optimistic that a new and better policy will emerge from this more collaborative process,” the Southwest Minnesota State Faculty Association stated.

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