Overview
Claude is a generative AI assistant made by Anthropic. The Northwestern Enterprise Claude environment is approved by Northwestern IT for use with many types of University data and can help with tasks such as drafting and editing, summarizing document. Teams and individual accounts are not approved for the same data types.
Northwestern's agreement with Anthropic makes Claude available to eligible faculty and staff in participating schools through the Claude for Enterprise plan. Initial costs are covered by the participating schools. This is part of a broader, evolving effort to make well-supported AI tools available across the University — service offerings, eligibility, and guidance may be updated as this space continues to change quickly.
Claude environments
Northwestern University has implemented one general Claude Enterprise instance that is appropriate for most users. A second Claude instance, a more restricted environment for users working with higher data security needs, is in the planning stages. This environment will have many connector features disabled to protect user data.
Participating schools and populations
Claude is available through Northwestern's enterprise agreement to eligible faculty and staff in three participating schools: Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the McCormick School of Engineering, and the Pritzker School of Law. Other schools and units maintain separate Anthropic Team environments, outside this agreement.
Available to
Cost
$25–$50/month plus incurred usage fees. Costs may be covered in part by sponsoring units, particularly for standard usage.
How to Request Service
At this time, access requests should be initiated through your sponsoring school or unit. Sponsoring schools will help determine eligibility and coordinate the appropriate access and provisioning process.
1. Connecting to Claude
To log into the Northwestern Claude Enterprise environment:
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Go to https://claude.ai/login
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Enter your Northwestern email address.
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Click "Continue with SSO" to log in.
For users with multiple Claude accounts associated with their Northwestern email, please make sure to use the Northwestern University environment to interact with Claude.
Click on the profile icon at the bottom left of the screen and select Northwestern University - Enterprise from the panel.
2. Features, Capabilities & Limitations
Available Claude capabilities
Northwestern's Claude Enterprise plan includes:
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Everyday chat and drafting assistance
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Claude Code for technical and coding work
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Claude Cowork for delegating multi-step research, analysis, and document tasks
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Claude for Microsoft 365
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Skills that capture reusable templates and workflows
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Memory across conversations
Connectors & Integrations
Available and approved connectors
Northwestern University has approved Claude for Microsoft 365 for use. If you choose to enable this, Claude can access data within your Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams environments. It also includes add-ins for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook applications.
Other connectors being evaluated are Adobe, Zoom, Atlassian, and GitHub.
Users can request access to Claude for Microsoft 365 through the Claude attestation form.
Data and privacy implications of connectors
Connectors do not give Claude any more access than the connected user already has. Claude can only see what that person could already see in whichever service is connected, and it retrieves data only when a conversation calls for it, not through a standing sync.
Connectors are read-only by default. Allowing Claude to take actions in a connected service, such as sending an email, requires a separate admin-level setting.
Northwestern IT can approve, restrict, or block individual connectors organization-wide and may require approval for specific actions rather than allowing them automatically.
3. Data Security and Responsible Use
Data Use, Privacy & Security
Permitted data use
Northwestern classifies institutional data into four levels based on the potential harm from unauthorized disclosure or loss — from Level 1 (public information) to Level 4 (classified data, which is not permitted at Northwestern in any system).
Claude is approved for Level 2 data, including FERPA information, for the Claude Enterprise general environment, and Level 3 data, with some caveats, in the Claude Enterprise restricted environment.
Key exceptions include PHI or HIPAA-protected data, along with other restrictions that may arise from sponsored research requirements, data use agreements, or similar terms. Separately, as of this writing, NIH and NSF peer reviewers are not permitted to use generative AI.
Anthropic's use and protection of Northwestern data
Northwestern's Enterprise Services Agreement prohibits Anthropic from training its models on Northwestern data. Anthropic's use of that data is contractually limited to providing the service, complying with the law, and enforcing the agreement. It may not sell or share Northwestern data or combine it with data from any other source.
Northwestern retains ownership of everything submitted and of Claude's outputs.
Anthropic also commits to a defined set of security protections. If a security breach affecting Northwestern data occurs, Anthropic is contractually required to notify Northwestern within 48 hours of becoming aware of it.
Data retention and deletion
If a user deletes an individual conversation, it disappears from that user's view immediately and is removed from Anthropic's backend systems within 30 days.
Separately, if Northwestern's agreement with Anthropic were ever to end, Anthropic is contractually required to return and/or delete all Northwestern data within 30 days of that end date, except where the law, an active legal dispute, or preventing harmful use of the service requires otherwise.
Northwestern access to user content
There are two different aspects to consider: what Northwestern's contract with Anthropic establishes and what Northwestern's policies for users say about internal access.
a) Northwestern & Anthropic
Northwestern's agreement with Anthropic makes Northwestern the data controller and Anthropic the data processor for everything submitted to Claude.
In practice, this means Northwestern owns and directs the data, and Anthropic's role is to process it on Northwestern's behalf and support Northwestern's own obligations — including helping respond to a request from an individual to access, correct, or delete their data, and not disclosing Northwestern data to any third party without authorization.
b) Northwestern & Users
Northwestern's general policy on electronic resources — the same one that governs University email and other systems — applies to Claude.
The University does not routinely monitor the content that users create or discuss using Claude. It reserves the right to access that content only when required by law, court order, or subpoena; for a government, civil, or criminal investigation; or for a well-defined, documented University need such as an internal audit or a compliance, teaching, or research obligation.
Please refer to the Appropriate Use of Electronic Resources policy for more information.
Privacy when sharing content
Privacy considerations are split between what the contract already covers regardless of which Claude feature is used and what Northwestern University needs to decide and configure.
a) Northwestern & Anthropic
Anthropic's obligations do not change based on which Claude feature is used to submit content.
Whether a user is having a one-on-one conversation or working in a shared space with colleagues, the same contractual protections apply: no training on Northwestern data, Northwestern retains ownership, and the same security and access controls described earlier in this document.
b) Northwestern & Users
For features that Northwestern turns on in Claude, the same general rule that applies to any shared University resource applies here, too: anyone with whom a user shares content may only use or pass along that information for legitimate University business, on a need-to-know basis, and is expected to keep it confidential.
Which sharing features will actually be available, and whether any additional guidance is needed, is still being determined.
School-specific data-use guidance
Some schools have implemented additional data-use policies. Please refer to the specific unit pages for additional details:
Responsible Use of Claude
Access to Claude is meant to support users' work, not replace the judgment and ethical standards that are central to our community. Its availability is not an endorsement of any and all uses.
Users should refer to the Northwestern IT page on Getting Started with Generative AI for more details.
If a user's work involves someone else's original work, research results, or copyrighted material, the user should secure the necessary permissions before entering it into Claude and should be transparent with collaborators, students, or supervisors about where AI assistance was used.
4. Training & Guidance
Getting started
Below are some helpful resources for getting started with generative AI and Claude:
Claude-specific courses are available through Anthropic Academy.
*Additional resources are coming soon.