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Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

nytimes.com

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Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#41

Post by clarkm »

jacobolus wrote: post #34

> At least one student has received the records, and said he was surprised by what he got back: several hundred pages, including a log of every time his electronic identification card had been used to unlock a door, [...] It seems totally unnecessary to indefinitely store every door swipe. Sure, store the swipes used to access the rare book room or the chemistry lab for 6 months or a year, but there’s no reason for e…

This is one of the reasons that Richard Stallman refused to use his RFID card at MIT. If a door was locked, he would just tailgate someone in. Eventually CSAIL just gave him a key to a back door.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#42

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Is there a legal conflict here - do writers of letters not have any protections under the law to prevent the letter being made public, or passed on to third parties. Do you lose all legal rights and controls over letters once you mail them?

The teachers maker recommendations clearly had an assumption of privacy in their communication?

If the Uni chose to precis the letter - eg provide a score in its place - would the right to view its content disappear. Is it just by virtue of it being attached directly to your internal academic record that one gets the ability to view it?

Interesting.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#43

Post by Symbiote »

ig1 wrote: post #15

This is pretty much standard practice in Europe. If you're storing/producing an information about an individual as an organization you have to operate on the assumption that the individual has a right to read it as in most cases they do.

The British implementation is called the Data Protection Act, which implements the EU Data Protection Directive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Directive

Could Stanford just destroy these records after they've completed the admission process? Could a European university do that?

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#44

Post by zaroth »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #42

Is there a legal conflict here - do writers of letters not have any protections under the law to prevent the letter being made public, or passed on to third parties. Do you lose all legal rights and controls over letters once you mail them? The teachers maker recommendations clearly had an assumption of privacy in their communication? If the Uni chose to precis the letter - eg provide a score in its place - would the…

"On the Common App used by most top colleges, applicants are asked to check a box waiving their right to ever see the recommendation letters written by their high school teachers and counselors. But students who did not check the box can get copies of those, too."

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#45

Post by gwern »

cjbarber wrote: post #31
gwern wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=c9d7a555374df02a66219b57... Apparently you mail a letter to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions with strong language referring to FERPA.

Even easier, you just submit a help ticket online (and they included copy-paste text templates)

If you're a Stanford student. I wouldn't want to try that for other schools.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#46

Post by learnstats2 »

Symbiote wrote: post #43
ig1 wrote: post #15

This is pretty much standard practice in Europe. If you're storing/producing an information about an individual as an organization you have to operate on the assumption that the individual has a right to read it as in most cases they do.

The British implementation is called the Data Protection Act, which implements the EU Data Protection Directive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Directive Could Stanford just destroy these records after they've completed the admission process? Could a European university do that?

Assuming the European university no longer has a need for the records, they are really supposed to destroy the personal data present, no?

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#47

Post by stfu »

clarkm wrote: post #6

The newsletter from The Fountain Hopper (who appears to have discovered this) has some more interesting details: When you apply to Stanford, your application gets assigned at least two admissions 'readers.' FoHo knows you get a third (specialized) reader if you're a legacy or a 'minority' (though we're not too sure how that's defined). We also think you get an additional reader if you're an athlete or development kid…

development kid (i.e. you donated $$$)

Anyone got any numbers on that? What does it take to become a development kid...

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#48

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

clarkm wrote: post #6

The newsletter from The Fountain Hopper (who appears to have discovered this) has some more interesting details: When you apply to Stanford, your application gets assigned at least two admissions 'readers.' FoHo knows you get a third (specialized) reader if you're a legacy or a 'minority' (though we're not too sure how that's defined). We also think you get an additional reader if you're an athlete or development kid…

I may be extremely naive but what does Stanford need the donations for? Aren't they rolling in dough.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#49

Post by esrauch »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #48
clarkm wrote: post #6

The newsletter from The Fountain Hopper (who appears to have discovered this) has some more interesting details: When you apply to Stanford, your application gets assigned at least two admissions 'readers.' FoHo knows you get a third (specialized) reader if you're a legacy or a 'minority' (though we're not too sure how that's defined). We also think you get an additional reader if you're an athlete or development kid…

I may be extremely naive but what does Stanford need the donations for? Aren't they rolling in dough.

They are rolling in dough because of their donations.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#50

Post by jsprogrammer »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #42

Is there a legal conflict here - do writers of letters not have any protections under the law to prevent the letter being made public, or passed on to third parties. Do you lose all legal rights and controls over letters once you mail them? The teachers maker recommendations clearly had an assumption of privacy in their communication? If the Uni chose to precis the letter - eg provide a score in its place - would the…

How do you have an assumption of privacy when you are the one mailing out the letter to some third party?
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