Eduardo Padrón

HABLAR CON LOS ESTUDIANTES ME RECUERDA EL POR QUÉ ESTOY AQUÍ.

Presidente del Miami Dade College desde 1995, Eduardo Padrón es una figura excluyente en temas de educación. Miami Dade College es, la institución en Estados Unidos con el mayor número de estudiantes de minorías que se inscriben y se gradúan. La revista Time lo ha incluido en la lista de “Los Diez Mejores Presidentes de Colleges y Universidades”. En 2011, The Washington Post lo ubicó entre los ocho presidentes de colleges más influyentes de Estados Unidos. La universidad de Princeton le otorgó un doctorado honorífico. La universidad Brown, en Providence, le confirió un doctorado honorífico de Letras Humanísticas.

MIAMI

Eduardo Padrón

HABLAR CON LOS ESTUDIANTES ME RECUERDA EL POR QUÉ ESTOY AQUÍ.

Presidente del Miami Dade College desde 1995, Eduardo Padrón es una figura excluyente en temas de educación. Miami Dade College es, la institución en Estados Unidos con el mayor número de estudiantes de minorías que se inscriben y se gradúan. La revista Time lo ha incluido en la lista de “Los Diez Mejores Presidentes de Colleges y Universidades”. En 2011, The Washington Post lo ubicó entre los ocho presidentes de colleges más influyentes de Estados Unidos. La universidad de Princeton le otorgó un doctorado honorífico. La universidad Brown, en Providence, le confirió un doctorado honorífico de Letras Humanísticas.

ALMA MIAMI: ¿Cómo ha llegado hasta aquí?

EDUARDO PADRON: Lo interesante de todo esto es que nunca tuve intenciones de ser educador. Nunca tomé un curso de pedagogía. De pequeño, las personas me preguntaban qué quería ser, pensando que yo iba a responder ingeniero, arquitecto, médico o abogado, pero yo decía: “Rico”. Mi intención cuando yo llegué a este país, con casi 16 años, era ser rico. Esa era mi idea del sueño americano, y entonces estudié economía y finanzas en todos los grados, hasta el doctorado.

AM: ¿Y cómo pasó de la economía a la educación?

E.P.: Sucedió que ex profesores míos, aquí en Miami Dade College, me convencieron de que diera un año de mí a la institución y trabajara como profesor de economía. Lo cual hizo que yo renunciara a un puesto que me había ofrecido la Dupont Corporation en Wilmington, Delaware, que en ese momento era la corporación más grande del mundo, y a un salario cuatro veces más grande que lo que iba a ganar aquí en ese año. Y dije: “Ok, un año, pero solamente un año. Y después voy a ir por mi sueño, que es hacer dinero, porque como educador no ganas mucho dinero”. Sin embargo, ese mismo año me di cuenta de que había algo maravilloso en la educación y fue como un acto religioso. Me convencí de que esto era lo que quería hacer por el resto de mi vida. Y si bien no soy millonario, puedo afirmar que soy el hombre más feliz y más rico del mundo porque la satisfacción de ver cómo aquí se cambian vidas todos los días. No hay mayor satisfacción en el mundo que eso. Así comencé aquí como profesor: fui subiendo, en distintas posiciones, unas ocho o nueve diferentes, hasta que se volvieron locos en 1995 y me dieron el mando total de la institución. (Risas) Fui presidente de este recinto –que llamamos Wolfson en el Downtown de Miami– por 15 años antes de ser nombrado presidente de toda la institución, y aquí estoy.

 AM: ¿Hoy en día mantiene el contacto con los estudiantes? ¿En qué medida el tiempo se lo permite?

 E.P.: Trato de hacerlo. Porque es importante mantenerme al día en cómo los estudiantes reaccionan, cuáles son sus ansiedades, sus intereses. Por otra parte, siempre tengo estudiantes trabajando en la oficina, y cuando salgo a una reunión, a otro edificio, y me encuentro con estudiantes, soy de interrumpirlos y hacerles preguntas. Es más, muchas veces los invito aquí a un desayuno o almuerzo, para tener charlas, conocerlos mejor, sobre todo los que son líderes de organizaciones y del gobierno estudiantil y ese tipo de cuestiones. Estas cosas son importantes para mí: me recuerdan el por qué estoy aquí.

 AM: En la actualidad, los jóvenes son bastante críticos con la falta de pragmatismo en el ejercicio de la docencia. Se ve algo de reparo a la sobrevaloración del principio de autoridad. ¿Cómo se logra mantener la motivación en el alumnado acerca de lo maravilloso que es incorporar conocimiento?

E.P.: Es que tenemos que darnos cuenta que esta institución que llamamos universidad, es una institución de muchos años. Las universidades se fundaron hace varios siglos, y básicamente es un modelo que ha perdurado y ha sobrevivido a pesar de todos los cambios en el mundo. Siempre digo que el sistema de educación superior no ha arribado todavía al siglo XXI. Sé que es una crítica un poco fuerte y que hay excepciones, pero en el mundo de hoy el aprendizaje requiere un matiz diferente; el pragmatismo es inspirador para los estudiantes. Nosotros llevamos varios años haciendo ese cambio, porque nos hemos dado cuenta de que cuando hablamos con los empleadores –desde las compañías más grandes hasta las más pequeñas–, y preguntamos cuáles son las destrezas qué deben de tener sus futuros empleados, además de un profundo conocimiento de la materia, lo que buscan en la actualidad son destrezas. Es más, son más importantes que nunca: la habilidad de trabajar en grupo, la habilidad de resolver problemas, capacidad de razonamiento, etc. La competencia en el mundo moderno entre las naciones, y aún entre las regiones dentro de un mismo país, está basada en talento y ese talento hay que cultivarlo de modo diferente.

AM: Ante esto, ¿cómo los afectó el cambio?

E.P.: Hoy en las economías avanzadas se requiere una educación universitaria. Si miramos 40 años atrás, la gran mayoría de los estadounidenses podían ir a trabajar con poca educación: iban a fábricas donde realizaban trabajos rutinarios, casi siempre con sus manos, y se quedaban en un mismo empleo por treinta años; se retiraban con una buena pensión y eran parte parte de la clase media. Hoy en día no solamente la gran mayoría de esos trabajos se han ido perdiendo, sino que la gran mayoría de los estadounidenses en su vida productiva cambian de empleo entre diez y quince veces. Para poder hacer eso, para poder navegar la economía moderna, tienen que tener destrezas muy diferentes. Y eso nos afecta directamente a nosotros: en el método de enseñanza, en cómo los estudiantes deben funcionar cuando egresan. Ese el papel más importante que tiene la universidad hoy en día.

AM: Actualmente, las transformaciones son cada vez más rápidas, y los ciclos cada vez más cortos. ¿Siente que los docentes a nivel general en Estados Unidos están a la altura de ese cambio constante?

E.P.: No en todos los casos. Creo que todavía tenemos mucho que hacer para ayudar a los docentes a poder funcionar en este momento de la sociedad. Lo que sí vemos es que a muchos docentes les cuesta trabajo hacer esa transición, porque llevan muchos años frente a un pizarrón trabajando con los estudiantes. Pero sí sabemos que no nos cabe otro remedio que hacer esa transición, porque es lo que es necesario para poder proveer a los estudiantes con las destrezas, las habilidades y todo lo que necesitan para poder funcionar. Hay que prepararlos para que puedan adaptarse: la adaptabilidad es un arma muy poderosa que tenemos actualmente, porque la gran mayoría de los trabajos que van a estar presentes dentro de cinco o diez años, hoy no se han inventado todavía, están en proceso.

AM: Históricamente, la educación se impartía casi en forma vertical. Se educaba con conocimientos muy específicos y estancos, inherentes sólo a la raíz de cada carrera. Y cada vez más las personas requieren un conocimiento transversal. Conocimientos que atraviesen la verticalidad de ese conocimiento específico. ¿Cómo se están preparando las generaciones jóvenes para ser docentes en esta nueva era?

E.P.: Esa es una gran pregunta y es una gran disyuntiva nacional en este momento. Es algo que se discute mucho porque si bien a nuestras aulas les llamamos aulas, de hecho, ya no lo son en el sentido tradicional. Son espacios con mesas redondas donde los estudiantes se van moviendo de un lado a otro. Si están estudiando medicina, no están simplemente trabajando con estudiantes de medicina, están trabajando con estudiantes de todas las disciplinas, porque la forma en que nosotros estamos impartiendo la docencia hoy está más bien encaminada a preparar individuos para resolver situaciones, para resolver problemas, y todas esas cosas requieren una comunión de varios estudiantes y profesionales que vienen de distintas disciplinas. Aquellos momentos en donde las disciplinas de ciencias, las artes, las humanidades, estaban en salones diferentes donde ni siquiera se conocían o interactuaban, se está eliminando totalmente.

AM: ¿Cuál es el criterio que aplican para la selección de nuevos docentes?

E.P.: Tenemos varias preocupaciones cuando vamos a emplear docentes. Una es que sea gente que pueda representar a los estudiantes que servimos, desde el punto étnico, desde el punto de vista de su procedencia global, porque es importante que los estudiantes se vean reflejados en la docencia. Ese es un grave problema en todo el país en muchas escuelas, donde los estudiantes de las minorías, por ejemplo, no se ven reflejados en los docentes. Aquí tenemos personas de muchas partes del mundo que estudiaron en otros países y traen una experiencia al aula totalmente diferente. Sin embargo, en términos específicos, tratamos de combinar el docente más teórico con aquel que tiene la experiencia de la práctica, y eso lo hacemos en diferentes formas. Por ejemplo, en el centro de leyes tenemos profesores que estudiaron leyes y son docentes bien preparados, aunque en el programa enseñan también muchos jueces y abogados que están actualmente ejerciendo su profesión. Y esa combinación es importantísima.

AM: En general, en Estados Unidos la educación es elitista. ¿Concuerda?

E.P.: En mi opinión, la educación universitaria, no solamente en Estados Unidos, sino en gran parte del mundo, ha sido totalmente elitista. No obstante, la gran disyuntiva que tiene hoy este país, es que para poder mantener su posición de liderazgo tiene que proveerle a todos los estadounidenses la oportunidad de obtener estudios postsecundarios, y eso es difícil porque la gran mayoría de las universidades de este país son elitistas y escogen a los estudiantes con los cuales quieren trabajar, los que están mejor preparados, los que tienen los requisitos necesarios. Basan el éxito en cuántos estudiantes eliminan, lo opuesto de decir cuántos estudiantes admiten. Hace cien años se decretó que el high school era un derecho universal para todos los estadounidenses, y eso cambió a éste país. Las naciones emergentes están haciendo inversiones multimillonarias en educación porque comprenden esta realidad. Nosotros no contamos con suficientes instituciones que tengan esa cultura de puertas abiertas. En este punto, Miami Dade College basa su prestigio en el hecho de que ésta es una institución de puertas abiertas y al mismo tiempo ha podido garantizar la excelencia en la educación que se imparte, y ahí es donde está el mérito.

AM: ¿Cómo se combate el elitismo en la educación universitaria?

E.P.: Creo que nuestra economía lo va a exigir. El presidente Barack Obama presentó una idea que tiene mucho valor, y es una propuesta al Congreso que establecería que los dos primeros años en todos los centros universitarios serían completamente gratis para todos los ciudadanos.

AM: ¿Qué oportunidad tiene esa ley de pasar?

E.P.: Eventualmente, esa ley no nos queda más remedio que pasarla. El problema es que en este Congreso no van a hacer eso, por razones que ya sabemos. Sin embargo, es una idea que todos sabemos –y no importa cuál sea tu partido político– que es necesaria.

AM: ¿Qué ha hecho el presidente Obama en estos casi siete años de gobierno por la educación?

E.P.: Creo que ha hecho varias cosas que son importantísimas. Número uno: realzar esto mismo que acabamos de hablar, la importancia de proveer oportunidades a todos los estadounidenses para que puedan alcanzar estudios universitarios; ha aumentado las becas federales para todos los estudiantes; ha tratado de controlar el negocio de las compañías que otorgan los préstamos universitarios para que los estudiantes no tengan que terminar con deudas imposibles de pagar. Además, ha tratado, al nivel de primaria y secundaria, de promover un currículo universal, lo que le llaman “common core”, para que haya cierta uniformidad en todos los estados en términos de lo que se requiere de los estudiantes. Esas son las cosas que considero las principales, porque está adelantándose a lo que viene. Y es un hecho que a pesar del desempleo, el país tiene hoy más de cuatro millones de empleos donde las empresas no encuentran a las personas con las destrezas necesarias; es decir, hay aquí lo que le llaman el “skill gap”, que es el desajuste entre la demanda y la oferta, en términos de ciertas preparaciones académicas.

AM: Me gustaría conocer su opinión acerca de la apertura de la administración de Obama hacia Cuba.

E.P.: Este es un tema muy reciente e interesante. La forma en que lo veo es esta: 55 años de una misma política que no ha dado resultado alguno y hoy nos damos cuenta de que la única esperanza que podemos tener para Cuba es que la apertura traiga cambios sustanciales. En mi opinión, esos cambios no van a pasar de hoy para mañana. En este punto, hay un optimismo demasiado grande porque conozco bien el sistema. El gobierno cubano es un gobierno cuyo interés principal es mantener el control, y es muy consciente de que cualquier huequito que se abra puede quitarles parte de ese control, y entonces están siendo muy cautelosos en cómo participan. Ellos tienen una necesidad imperiosa de que esto ocurra. ¿Por qué? Porque ya no estamos en la época donde la Unión Soviética subvencionaba a Cuba por billones de dólares todos los años; ni está Venezuela que era el vehículo para el bienestar de Cuba en los últimos años. El gobierno cubano no puede sobrevivir de esa manera, entonces no le queda más remedio que jugar este juego de ajedrez. Sin embargo, están asustados y éste es un cambio que va a tomar tiempo. Por eso un día dicen sí y al otro que no; un día dicen que sí por los derechos humanos y al otro les dan una paliza a las damas de blanco. Pero, por otro lado, creo en la oportunidad de por lo menos dialogar, de hablar. Creo que es la decisión correcta.

AM: ¿Estaría de acuerdo con el levantamiento del embargo económico?

E.P.: Es que no conozco el embargo, porque todos los países están negociando con Cuba desde hace rato. En Cuba no falta nada, lo único es que no va al pueblo. Los hoteles cuentan con las mejores oportunidades que cualquier hotel del mundo puede tener, pero ahí solamente pueden entrar los turistas, y la gente que está en el gobierno tiene todo lo que quiere. Estoy convencido de que el gobierno cubano ha sido el principal opositor de que se levante el embargo, porque en todos estos años esto les ha permitido echarle la culpa de todo lo malo que pasa en Cuba al imperialismo yankee, que los ahoga, que los detesta y que no les permite mantenerse económicamente. El día que se levante el embargo, ¿qué excusa va a tener el gobierno cubano para el fracaso del sistema económico? Porque no es el embargo lo que tiene a Cuba ahogado, es su sistema totalmente arcaico lo que no funciona.

AM: En Estados Unidos, en general, el voto hispano es demócrata, excepto por la comunidad cubana que ha sido radicalmente republicana. Hoy la generación joven de descendencia cubana se aleja cada vez más de la posición política de sus padres y se acerca a una postura más de centro. ¿Por qué piensa que se está dando este fenómeno?

E.P.: Es que son jóvenes que han crecido en este país, con la realidad del mundo de hoy. Ellos no conocen Cuba, no entienden el dolor de sus padres y razonan de una forma diferente; han sido educados de una manera distinta. Pero hay que entender otra cosa: la evolución, en ese sentido, va mucho más allá de los hijos, de la segunda generación, la tercera generación, porque tengo hijos y nietos y todos se identifican como cubanos a pesar de que nacieron todos aquí, y son muy liberales. Además, hay otra cosa más y es que el exilio tradicional histórico que le llamo yo de los años 60, no es el mismo exilio de los que vinieron en los 70 y mucho menos de los que vinieron en los 80, el Mariel, y los que vienen mucho después ya en los 90. Son personas con otro entendimiento. Entonces, el voto cubano ya no es monolítico por los republicanos. En realidad, las encuestas muestran que está muy dividido eso y la generación que está aferrada a las ideas más tradicionales es una generación mayor que se está extinguiendo.

AM: Volviendo a la educación, ¿quién muestra mayor grado de preocupación por la evolución de la enseñanza en este país, el estado nacional o el de la Florida?

 E.P.: El estado nacional definitivamente. Hay que entender la educación en Estados Unidos: este es uno de los pocos países en el mundo donde la educación no es controlada a nivel federal, y se diseñó así a propósito, para darle más autoridad, más control a los estados y a las comunidades dentro de los estados. El gobierno nacional tiene un papel muy limitado en la educación que incluye proteger a los ciudadanos de discriminación al brindar muchas leyes al respecto; después incentiva ciertas cosas que el gobierno nacional piensa que son importantes a través de asignaciones presupuestarias por las que las universidades compiten. Y la otra es tratar de estimular, a través de la ayuda económica, a los estudiantes de bajos ingresos, dándoles las becas federales Pell, lo que le garantiza a todos los estudiantes que por lo menos tienen un fondo que se les da –que no tienen que pagar– para asistir a la universidad. En cambio, todo lo que tenga que ver con el material didáctico es regulado por los estados. En este punto, nosotros somos una institución estatal, aunque a pesar de eso cada día nos dan menos dinero y hoy en día recibimos del estado de la Florida menos del 50% del total de nuestros ingresos. O sea, somos una institución casi privada porque la mayoría de nuestros fondos no vienen del estado ya que el estado de la Florida ha dejado su responsabilidad sobre la educación a un lado. Y eso ha venido ocurriendo en los últimos diez años. Y durante la recesión eso se ha agudizado notablemente y ahora, superada la recesión, donde no hay excusas, la situación sigue igual.

 

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You agree that such Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and that your use of the Services is solely at your own risk. We expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We make no warranty that the Services will meet your requirements, or that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; nor do we make any warranty as to the results that may be obtained from the use of the Service or as to the accuracy or reliability of any information obtained through the Service or that defects in the Service will be corrected. You understand and agree that any material and/or data downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of Service is done at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damage or loss of data that results from the download of such material and/or data. We make no warranty regarding any goods or services purchased or obtained through the Service or any transactions entered into through the Service unless stated otherwise. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from us or through the Service shall create any warranty not expressly made herein.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will ALMA MAGAZINE, its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, suppliers or licensors be liable to any person for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, cover or consequential damages (including, without limitation, damages for lost profits, revenue, sales, goodwill, use of content, impact on business, business interruption, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity) however caused, under any theory of liability, including, without limitation, contract, tort, warranty, breach of statutory duty, negligence or otherwise, even if the liable party has been advised as to the possibility of such damages or could have foreseen such damages. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the aggregate liability of ALMA MAGAZINE and its affiliates, officers, employees, agents, suppliers and licensors relating to the services will be limited to an amount no greater than one dollar or any amounts actually paid in cash by you to ALMA MAGAZINE for the prior one-month period prior to the first event or occurrence giving rise to such liability. The limitations and exclusions also apply if this remedy does not fully compensate you for any losses or fails of its essential purpose.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold ALMA MAGAZINE and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, suppliers and licensors harmless from and against any liabilities, losses, damages or costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred in connection with or arising from any third-party allegations, claims, actions, disputes, or demands asserted against any of them as a result of or relating to your Content, your use of the Services or any willful misconduct on your part.

Severability

All rights and restrictions contained in this Agreement may be exercised and shall be applicable and binding only to the extent that they do not violate any applicable laws and are intended to be limited to the extent necessary so that they will not render this Agreement illegal, invalid or unenforceable. If any provision or portion of any provision of this Agreement shall be held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, it is the intention of the parties that the remaining provisions or portions thereof shall constitute their agreement with respect to the subject matter hereof, and all such remaining provisions or portions thereof shall remain in full force and effect.

Dispute resolution

The formation, interpretation, and performance of this Agreement and any disputes arising out of it shall be governed by the substantive and procedural laws of Florida, United States without regard to its rules on conflicts or choice of law and, to the extent applicable, the laws of United States. The exclusive jurisdiction and venue for actions related to the subject matter hereof shall be the courts located in Florida, United States, and you hereby submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts. You hereby waive any right to a jury trial in any proceeding arising out of or related to this Agreement. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply to this Agreement.

Assignment

You may not assign, resell, sub-license or otherwise transfer or delegate any of your rights or obligations hereunder, in whole or in part, without our prior written consent, which consent shall be at our own sole discretion and without obligation; any such assignment or transfer shall be null and void. We are free to assign any of its rights or obligations hereunder, in whole or in part, to any third party as part of the sale of all or substantially all of its assets or stock or as part of a merger.

Changes and amendments

We reserve the right to modify this Agreement or its terms related to the Services at any time at our discretion. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page, post a notification within the Services, send you an email to notify you. We may also provide notice to you in other ways at our discretion, such as through the contact information you have provided. An updated version of this Agreement will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Agreement unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of the revised Agreement (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes.

Acceptance of these terms

You acknowledge that you have read this Agreement and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Services you agree to be bound by this Agreement. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Agreement, you are not authorized to access or use the Services.

Contacting us

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Agreement, we encourage you to contact us using the details below:

info@ALMAMAGAZINE.com

This document was last updated on November 12, 2021

Disclaimer

This disclaimer (“Disclaimer”) sets forth the general guidelines, disclosures, and terms of your use of the BoatsGuideFlorida.com website (“Website”), “ALMA MAGAZINE” mobile application (“Mobile Application”) and any of their related products and services (collectively, “Services”). This Disclaimer is a legally binding agreement between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and GHIDS MEDIA CORP (doing business as “ALMA MAGAZINE”, “we”, “us” or “our”). If you are entering into this agreement on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity to this agreement, in which case the terms “User”, “you” or “your” shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with the terms of this agreement, you must not accept this agreement and may not access and use the Services. By accessing and using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Disclaimer. You acknowledge that this Disclaimer is a contract between you and ALMA MAGAZINE, even though it is electronic and is not physically signed by you, and it governs your use of the Services.

Representation

Any views or opinions represented on the Services are personal and belong solely to ALMA MAGAZINE and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that ALMA MAGAZINE may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity unless explicitly stated. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.

Content and postings

You may not modify, print or copy any part of the Services. Inclusion of any part of the Services in another work, whether in printed or electronic or another form or inclusion of any part of the Services on another resource by embedding, framing or otherwise without the express permission of ALMA MAGAZINE is prohibited.

Compensation and sponsorship

The Services may contain forms of advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. On certain occasions ALMA MAGAZINE may be compensated to provide opinions on products, services, or various other topics. The compensation received may influence such opinions of the advertised content or topics available on the Services. Sponsored content and advertising space will always be identified as such. Some of the links on the Services may be affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, ALMA MAGAZINE will receive an affiliate commission.

Indemnification and warranties

While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained on the Services is correct, ALMA MAGAZINE is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information on the Services is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In no event will ALMA MAGAZINE be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information on the Services, or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Information on the Services is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide any type of professional advice. Please seek professional assistance should you require it. Information contained on the Services are subject to change at any time and without warning.

Changes and amendments

We reserve the right to modify this Disclaimer or its terms related to the Services at any time at our discretion. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page, post a notification within the Services, send you an email to notify you. We may also provide notice to you in other ways at our discretion, such as through the contact information you have provided. An updated version of this Disclaimer will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Disclaimer unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of the revised Disclaimer (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes.

Acceptance of this disclaimer

You acknowledge that you have read this Disclaimer and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Services you agree to be bound by this Disclaimer. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Disclaimer, you are not authorized to access or use the Services.

Contacting us

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Disclaimer, we encourage you to contact us using the details below:

[email protected]

This document was last updated on March 12, 2022

Privacy Policy
This policy was last updated on March 21, 2022.
Introduction
This Privacy Policy applies to all of the products, services, and websites offered by Ghids Media Corporation and its subsidiaries or affiliated companies (collectively, “Ghids Media”). We provide this notice explaining our privacy practices and the choices you can make about how your information is collected and used by Ghids Media Corporation. Ghids Media has appointed a Data Protection Office to contact if you have any questions or concerns. The Data Protection Office contact information is as follows: Data Protection Office  Ghids Media Corporation  11007 Griffing Blvd. Miami, FL33161  [email protected]
An overview of the information we may collect.
You can take advantage of many Bonnier products, services, and websites without providing any information that personally identifies you by name, address, or other personally-identifying information. We only collect personally-identifying information when you voluntarily submit it to us. Sometimes, we need personally-identifying information to provide you with the products and services you request. Depending upon the product or service, we may ask you for various personally-identifying information. This might include, for example, your name, address, email address, telephone number, gender, and birth date. We may also ask for other information about you, such as your credit card information (when making a purchase), interests, income, or education level. We consider certain identifying information “sensitive.” This includes your credit card number, income level, or other information usually regarded as confidential. Some personal information will never be requested or collected, such as information on your race or ethnic origin, political opinions, trade union memberships, religious beliefs, health, sex life, or sexual orientation. You may choose not to provide us with any personally-identifying information. In that case, you can still access and use many portions of our websites; however, you will not be able to access and use those portions of any Bonnier website that require your personal information. Many Ghids Media websites include community features, such as online forums and message boards. The information posted in these areas becomes public information, and any third party’s use of this information is beyond our control. If you elect to submit content that includes information that can be used to identify you, you must assume that the content can and will be displayed on any website on the Internet. Our properties may feature measurement software, which will allow you to contribute to market research. We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit our website and directly in emails/communications. These companies may use information you have shared (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over, email address) during your visits to this and other Web sites to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. Our partners use this information to recognize you across different channels and platforms over time for advertising, analytics, attribution, and reporting purposes; any information collected is stored in hashed or non-human-readable form. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. Ghids Media websites sometimes may offer contests, sweepstakes, or promotions sponsored by or co-sponsored with identified third parties. Under their sponsorship, these third parties may obtain personally-identifying information that visitors voluntarily submit to them to participate in the contest, sweepstakes, or promotion. B Ghids Media has no control over the third-party sponsors’ use of this information. If a third-party sponsor beyond our control will obtain information that you supply us, we will notify you when we collect the information from you. For specific promotions, only those who provide us with the requested personally-identifying information will be able to order products, programs, and services or otherwise participate in the promotion’s activities and offerings. Some of our websites contain links to other sites. By clicking on these links, you will leave the website operated by Ghids Media and this Privacy Policy will no longer apply. These other sites’ information practices may be different than ours. You should consult the other sites’ privacy notices, as we have no control over information submitted to or collected by these third parties.
How we use the information we collect
We use the personally-identifying information you provide us to fulfill your requests for our products, programs, and services, respond to your inquiries about offerings, and offer you other products, programs, or services that we believe may be of interest to you. We sometimes use this information to communicate with you, such as to notify you when you have won one of our contests, make changes to subscriber agreements, fulfill a request by you for an online newsletter, or contact you about your account with us. We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions. We may syndicate the publicly available content of our community areas to unaffiliated third-party websites using RSS or other technologies. The information you have shared in the community areas may be included in this syndication. We will use the personally-identifying information that you provide about others in order to provide the products or services that you have requested; for example, to enable us to send them your gifts or cards. If you provide us someone else’s personally-identifying information for referral purposes, we may use that information to invite them to visit our websites or to provide them information about our products or services. If you provide us with your email and/or postal address, we may include that address in email and/or postal address lists that we sell, trade, or rent to third parties. These lists will never contain sensitive information. If you do not wish for your email or postal address to be shared with companies not owned by Bonnier who want to market products or services to you, you have the opportunity to opt out, as described below. You may also opt out of the receipt of any marketing materials from Ghids Media as described below. We may transfer your sensitive personally-identifying information to other Bonnier offices for internal management and administrative purposes. In addition, your personal data will be transferred to other Bonnier offices where necessary for the performance or conclusion of our contractual obligations to you or for your benefit. Transfers of personally-identifying information may also be made where necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims. We do not transfer personal information internationally. Ghids Media will only share your sensitive personal information with outside companies or individuals in any of the following limited circumstances:
  • When we use trusted businesses or persons to process personal information on our behalf. Before sharing any personal information with outside parties, we require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
  • When we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure is necessary to:
  1. comply with applicable law, regulation, or legal process;
  2. enforce the applicable Terms of Service or other agreements and policies on the Company’s Websites;
  3. detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or
  4. protect against imminent harm to the rights, property, or safety or Ghids Media, its users, or the public as required or permitted by law.
  • When you consent. Before we share your sensitive personal information outside of the previously listed circumstances, we will ask you for permission first. Please note that this only applies to sensitive information, as defined above.
We may also use, transfer, sell, and share aggregated, anonymous data about our users for any legal purpose, such as analyzing usage trends and seeking compatible advertisers and partners. In no event will this aggregated data contain any information that could be used to identify individual users of our products or services.
How we protect the safety and integrity of the information we collect
We take appropriate physical, electronic, and procedural measures to safeguard and protect your personal information. We use a variety of security measures, including encryption and authentication, to maintain the confidentiality of your personal information. We store your personal information on systems behind firewalls that are only accessible to a limited number of persons, each of whom is required to keep the information confidential. We also take appropriate measures to secure the transmission of sensitive personal information from your computer to the Company’s computers. When you transmit sensitive personal information to us, like credit card information, we offer the use of a secure connection to our servers. To the extent you select the secure connection method or your browser supports such functionality, all credit card account information that you supply is transmitted via secure encryption technology. Regardless of these measures, no system connected to the Internet or data transmission sent over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We will provide notice if we become aware of any security breach that may affect any sensitive personal information pertaining to you that we have stored on our systems. Ghids Media only collects personal information that is relevant to the purposes for which it will be used. Though we do take appropriate steps to review and update the information that we store to ensure that it is accurate, complete, and current, we also depend on you to update or correct your personal information when necessary. To protect your privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to help verify your identity before granting access or making corrections. We will decline to process requests where we cannot verify the identity of the requester. We may also decline to process requests that are automated, repetitive, systematic, or impractical, or that might jeopardize the privacy of others. In some limited circumstances, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our policies, we may retain some of information that you have requested us to remove. Therefore, you should not expect that all of your personal information will be completely removed from our databases in response to your requests.
Your privacy options
We do not share your email address with any third-party, unless you have given us the explicit permission to do so. Email messages we send on behalf of our advertisers or other Bonnier brands are delivered from our internal email marketing system only. We may also use an encrypted form of your email address strictly for matching purposes, both internally and externally. We only want to communicate with you if you want to hear from us. All email messages we send will contain Unsubscribe and Manage Preferences links in the footer of each email, which you can use to control what type of email messages you receive. In order to provide you with all relevant content for our brand(s) with which you have interest and to give you the greatest degree of control over what type of messages you receive, your email address may exist on multiple lists. Taking action using the Unsubscribe link will suppress you from a single list for that type of content (ex: Editorial, Sponsored or Consumer Marketing). For this reason, if you want to stop receiving all email messages from a Bonnier brand, using the Manage Preferences link from the email footer may be a more appropriate option. You may also use the Manage Preferences link to receive other content types, update your personal information or sign up for emails from other Ghids Media brands.
Questions, Concerns, and Complaints
If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy, or if you think that we have used your personal information in a manner inconsistent with this Policy, please contact us by mail or email: Data Protection Office Ghids Media Corporation 11007 Griffing Blvd. Miami, FL33161 [email protected] If we receive a complaint from you, we will contact you in an attempt to address your concerns. If we are not able to resolve a complaint, we will participate in appropriate independent recourse mechanisms as necessary. Boats Guide Florida, Usa Onboard, Alma Magazine, Alma Miami and Ghids are Trademarks of Ghids Media Corp.

GHIDS MEDIA CORP & USA ONBOARD

Website And Web Application
Terms and conditions

USA ONBOARD is a media owned by GHIDS MEDIA CORP.

These terms and conditions (“Agreement”) set forth the general terms and conditions of your use of the BoatsGuideFlorida.com website (“Website”), “BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA” mobile application (“Mobile Application”), UsaOnboard.com website (“Website”), and any of their related products and services (collectively, “Services”). This Agreement is legally binding between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and GHIDS MEDIA CORP (doing business as “BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA”, USA ONBOARD, “we”, “us” or “our”). If you are entering into this agreement on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity to this agreement, in which case the terms “User”, “you” or “your” shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with the terms of this agreement, you must not accept this agreement and may not access and use the Services. By accessing and using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. You acknowledge that this Agreement is a contract between you and BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA & USA ONBOARD even though it is electronic and is not physically signed by you, and it governs your use of the Services.

Accounts and membership

If you create an account on the Services, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with it. We may monitor and review new accounts before you may sign in and start using the Services. Providing false contact information of any kind may result in the termination of your account. You must immediately notify us of any unauthorized uses of your account or any other breaches of security. We will not be liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions. We may suspend, disable, or delete your account (or any part thereof) if we determine that you have violated any provision of this Agreement or that your conduct or content would tend to damage our reputation and goodwill. If we delete your account for the foregoing reasons, you may not re-register for our Services. We may block your email address and Internet protocol address to prevent further registration.

User content

We do not own any data, information or material (collectively, “Content”) that you submit on the Services in the course of using the Service. You shall have sole responsibility for the accuracy, quality, integrity, legality, reliability, appropriateness, and intellectual property ownership or right to use of all submitted Content. We may monitor and review the Content on the Services submitted or created using our Services by you. You grant us permission to access, copy, distribute, store, transmit, reformat, display and perform the Content of your user account solely as required for the purpose of providing the Services to you. Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, we have the right, though not the obligation, to, in our own sole discretion, refuse or remove any Content that, in our reasonable opinion, violates any of our policies or is in any way harmful or objectionable. You also grant us the license to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish or distribute the Content created by you or stored in your user account for commercial, marketing or any similar purpose.

Billing and payments

You shall pay all fees or charges to your account in accordance with the fees, charges, and billing terms in effect at the time a fee or charge is due and payable. Where Services are offered on a free trial basis, payment may be required after the free trial period ends, and not when you enter your billing details (which may be required prior to the commencement of the free trial period). If auto-renewal is enabled for the Services you have subscribed for, you will be charged automatically in accordance with the term you selected. If, in our judgment, your purchase constitutes a high-risk transaction, we will require you to provide us with a copy of your valid government-issued photo identification, and possibly a copy of a recent bank statement for the credit or debit card used for the purchase. We reserve the right to change products at any time. We also reserve the right to refuse any order you place with us. We may, in our sole discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per household or per order. These restrictions may include orders placed by or under the same customer account, the same credit card, and/or orders that use the same billing and/or shipping address. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an order, we may attempt to notify you by contacting the e-mail and/or billing address/phone number provided at the time the order was made.

Accuracy of information

Occasionally there may be information on the Services that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies or omissions that may relate to availability, promotions and offers. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions, and to change or update information or cancel orders if any information on the Services or Services is inaccurate at any time without prior notice (including after you have submitted your order). We undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify information on the Services including, without limitation, pricing information, except as required by law. No specified update or refresh date applied on the Services should be taken to indicate that all information on the Services or Services has been modified or updated.

Third party services

If you decide to enable, access or use third party services, be advised that your access and use of such other services are governed solely by the terms and conditions of such other services, and we do not endorse, are not responsible or liable for, and make no representations as to any aspect of such other services, including, without limitation, their content or the manner in which they handle data (including your data) or any interaction between you and the provider of such other services. You irrevocably waive any claim against BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA with respect to such other services. BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA is not liable for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with your enablement, access or use of any such other services, or your reliance on the privacy practices, data security processes or other policies of such other services. You may be required to register for or log into such other services on their respective platforms. By enabling any other services, you are expressly permitting BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA to disclose your data as necessary to facilitate the use or enablement of such other service.

Backups

We perform regular backups of the Website and its Content and will do our best to ensure completeness and accuracy of these backups. In the event of the hardware failure or data loss we will restore backups automatically to minimize the impact and downtime.

Advertisements

During your use of the Services, you may enter into correspondence with or participate in promotions of advertisers or sponsors showing their goods or services through the Services. Any such activity, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such activity, is solely between you and the applicable third party. We shall have no liability, obligation or responsibility for any such correspondence, purchase or promotion between you and any such third party.

Links to other resources

Although the Services may link to other resources (such as websites, mobile applications, etc.), we are not, directly or indirectly, implying any approval, association, sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation with any linked resource, unless specifically stated herein. Some of the links on the Services may be “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA will receive an affiliate commission. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating, and we do not warrant the offerings of, any businesses or individuals or the content of their resources. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the actions, products, services, and content of any other third parties. You should carefully review the legal statements and other conditions of use of any resource which you access through a link on the Services. Your linking to any other off-site resources is at your own risk.

Prohibited uses

In addition to other terms as set forth in the Agreement, you are prohibited from using the Services or Content: (a) for any unlawful purpose; (b) to solicit others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts; (c) to violate any international, federal, provincial or state regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances; (d) to infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others; (e) to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability; (f) to submit false or misleading information; (g) to upload or transmit viruses or any other type of