Liberal Arts Colleges’ Student Admission Files Hacked
On Thursday March 7, the same week that The Wall Street Journal reported on Chinese hackers targeting universities in order to obtain access to classified military technology, Inside Higher Ed reported that applicants at three liberal arts colleges had received anonymous notes offering them the chance to buy their complete admissions files, including comments made on them by admissions officers, any ratings assigned to them, reports on interviews and, in some cases, the tentative decisions made on whether to admit them. Inside Higher Ed also reported that all three colleges use Slate, the flagship product of Technolutions, Inc., in order to track information about applicants and their applications.