by Randy Hollowell, IT Services

It's hard to believe another ShredFest has come and gone, but ShredFest 2022 is now officially in the books. This year marked the 12th annual ShredFest event, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather over the two days. The event, co-sponsored by IT Services and the Office of General Counsel, was held in Middletown and Hamilton on Monday, May 9, and in Oxford on Thursday, May 12. A total of 112 people attended this year’s ShredFest, which is a slight increase over our attendance last year. We were able to collect over 10,200 pounds of paper to be shredded, which is nearly 3,000 more pounds than we did a year ago. 

According to John Virden, Assistant Vice President, Security, Compliance, & Risk Management, and Chief Information Security Officer, outdated paper documents can pose a significant risk for identity theft. “Anything that has a signature, an account number, social security number, or medical information poses a risk. During ShredFest people drop off old bank statements and checks, ATM receipts, credit card receipts, address labels from junk mail, old utility bills, and outdated tax forms just to name a few items.”

Randy Hollowell, Manager of Communications and Customer Advocacy within IT Services, says that providing an annual shredding service for the campus and for the community helps to cut down the risk of data loss and provides a secure way to dispose of sensitive documents. “When people drop items off at the event, they tell us it gives them a sense of relief to finally get rid of old documents they no longer need and peace of mind that they are being disposed of securely,” he said.

ShredFest was held at the Oxford, Middletown, and Hamilton campuses. A mobile shredder provided by ERTH Systems Shredding was on hand to provide secure, on-site shredding of both University and personal documents. Representatives from IT Services and the Office of General Counsel assisted with the shredding process, as well as worked with attendees to make sure all University documents had reached the proper retention limit, and that the Records Disposal forms were completed. 

Preparations for next year’s event are already underway. The plan is for the event in Oxford to remain on the Thursday of May graduation. Specific dates and times for Oxford and the regional campuses are still being finalized.

If you cannot wait until next May to shred documents, there are several options.

• For University documents, visit the Records and Retention website and follow the stated process, which includes completing the Request for Records Disposal form.
• For personal documents, several area banks, including LCNB National Bank, provide shredding events throughout the year.