Coincidences? The WHRW news director thinks not.
Binghamton University announced Tuesday that it had let WHRW, the student-run radio station, members off the hook for “gaining access” this March to an unlocked room filled with students’ personal information … a few hours later, it happened again.
While he was walking through an entrance to the ground floor of Library South, WHRW News Director Robert Glass said he saw, in plain sight, a folder full of professors’ Social Security numbers in a dumpster.
But that’s not all.
Glass and fellow members of WHRW made a similar discovery in a dumpster at the same entrance last October. That time, it was students’ Social Security numbers and personal information. Both the professors’ and students’ information dated from the 1970s.
Still, that’s not all.
Last year, the University leaked personal information at least three times, including when a School of Management adviser accidentally e-mailed 200 accounting students a list of names, GPAs and Social Security numbers.
“Honestly, it’s sort of sad because I just feel annoyed,” Glass said. “The University has had a chance repeatedly to fix its ways to not let this happen again and they fucked up over and over again.”
This time, Glass saw a manilla folder with more papers than it could handle at the doorway by the loading dock near the ramp between the Engineering Building and Glenn G. Bartle Library. From plain sight, he saw what appeared to be names and Social Security numbers.
“I hope to hell it’s not names and security numbers,” he thought to himself.
Sure enough, it was.
At 6:30 p.m. the radio news director saw before his eyes 60 to 70 pages of the romance languages department course listings replete with professors names and Social Security numbers. He got a WHRW member to photograph the discovery. By 6:55 p.m. he handed over the file to Binghamton’s New York State University Police, along with a voluntary statement about his discovery.
Members of the romance languages department could not be reached for comment.
BU spokeswoman Gail Glover said the entrance Glass used was public, but called it a “low-traffic area.” A tour group walked by the entrance, Glass said.
The University is taking the matter “very seriously,” Glover said, and campus police “are working with a number of University offices to conduct a full investigation of this incident.”
“Through our investigation, we are trying to determine how this incident took place,” Glover added. “University-wide best practices are that any documentation no longer needed should be shredded.”
As sensitive information spurts into the hands and before the eyes of the public, the University is scrambling to patch up its protocol. Previous security breaches led the University to create an information security council with a chief information security officer in the fall. Last semester, students were assigned B-numbers to be used as identification on campus, though some offices still accept forms with Social Security numbers.
“The entire campus is urged to be vigilant regarding the disposal of personal information,” Glover said.
The Office of Compliance and Risk Management is conducting assessments of building and office areas across campus to provide guidance on the handling of sensitive information, Glover told Pipe Dream on Thursday. Among other initiatives, training has been provided to building administrators regarding the identification, handling and disposal of sensitive information. One-on-one consultations have also taken place, she said.
However, the patching up didn’t prevent WHRW’s discovery in October of an unlocked open door in the Lecture Hall that led to a room filled with documents containing Social Security information, tax forms, and credit card numbers of BU students and their families. The University dropped threats of criminal charges after cooperative discussions with Glass and his lawyer Henry R. Kaufman.
“I think it’s good for student journalism in general that when a university recognizes that journalism coverage should be protected, news gathering shouldn’t be turned into a criminal offense,” said Kaufman, who argued pro-bono. “I think it’s good for journalism and the First Amendment.”