We have recently been notified of a scam call where the caller claims to be from a foreign embassy and have a package for the victim. The caller then demands the victim to provide some information or money to avoid getting in trouble with the foreign embassy. Regardless of who the caller claims to be, we should never provide payment or our sensitive information to a random caller. For more details about this scam, please see the FTC Consumer Information write-up at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/04/scammers-impersonate-chinese-consulate

If you have any questions, please contact the IT Support Center at 828-2227 or itsc@vcu.edu .

The IT Support Center (ITSC) will provide temporary laptop checkouts until the laptop loan kiosks located in Cabell Library are returned to service. There will be a limited number of laptops (30) for check out beginning Monday, November 26, 2018. This service is available to all VCU students with a valid VCUCard. The laptop checkout period is limited to 24 hours. The ITSC is located on the lower basement level of Cabell Library.If you have any questions, please contact the IT Support Center at 828-2227 or itsc@vcu.edu.

The Commonwealth of Virginia has passed legislation that restricts access to student contact information by the public as well as by fellow students. Virginia House Bill 1 (HB1), which takes effect July 1 as Code of Virginia section 23.1-405(C), prohibits a university from disclosing a student’s email address, physical address or telephone number under the exception in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for directory information or the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) unless the student has affirmatively consented in writing to the disclosure.

On June 5, to ensure compliance with the new law, VCU Technology Services will remove all applicable student information from phonebook.vcu.edu and the people search on the VCU website. Additionally, University online applications such as Blackboard, email, room reservation systems and Service Desk will no longer provide the ability for non-employees to search for student eID and email addresses, including the auto-complete feature of email addresses currently used in many systems.

More information about this legislation is available at go.vcu.edu/hb1 .