ShredFest 2016 a huge success

By Randy Hollowell, IT services

The Miami community showed it cares about reducing clutter and preventing identity theft with more than 175 people attending this year’s ShredFest and providing nearly 8,400 pounds of paper to be shredded.

Once again the event was held at the Oxford, Middletown and Hamilton campuses. A mobile shredder from Document Destruction was on hand at each site 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 working with attendees to make sure all university documents had reached the proper retention limit and that the Records Disposal forms were completed.

The annual event, co-sponsored by IT services and the office of general counsel, was held in Oxford on Thursday, May 12, and in Middletown and Hamilton on Monday, May 16. The 8,380 pounds of shredding done this year was the most ever recorded in ShredFest’s 6-year history. The previous record was 6,946 pounds collected last year.

According to Connie Johnson, data security analyst in IT services, outdated paper documents can pose a significant risk for identity theft.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bank statements and checks, ATM receipts, credit card receipts, address labels from junk mail, old utility bills, and outdated tax forms just to name a few items,” noted Johnson.

Johnson 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 disposed of securely,” she said.

Plans for next year’s event are already underway. One change being considered is moving the day the shredder visits the regional campuses to either Tuesday or Wednesday of finals week, instead of the week after. Hopefully this will allow more faculty and students to take part in the event.