Letters to the editor

Useful Dialogue

To the Editor:

As we mark the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, we are pleased to announce the launch of "Dialogues on Race," a semesterlong program which will feature a series of conversations organized and facilitated by your peers exploring the subject of race and its current societal relevance.

These conversations present a marvelous opportunity for candid discussion of the challenges we face and the best approaches we can take as a community in fostering a diverse and inclusive learning and working environment at Penn.

To reiterate the message that we delivered last semester through our joint letter in The Daily Pennsylvanian, we are supplying the venues and forums through our collaboration with your fellow students, and we count on you to contribute your participation.

Please plan to join your colleagues in conversation on Feb. 25 and March 18 at 7 p.m. in Houston Hall. For more information about the program or other planned discussions and to RSVP, consult the Dialogues on Race Web site at www.upenn.edu/dialogues_on_race/.

Judith Rodin

William Gipson

The writers are the president of the University of Pennsylvania and the University chaplain, respectively.

The need for SSN protection

To the Editor:

The editorial regarding Penn's lack of effort on Social Security number privacy ("Protect our SSNs," DP, 02/17/04) and related news articles mention a 2001 incident where a University employee in the Career Services office stole students' SSNs for the purposes of identity theft. As one of the victims, I am disappointed but not surprised to read the DP's assertion that Penn has "not backed up" its privacy-talk with "action."

The crime involved a University employee in the Career Services office typing the last name "Jones" into the computer and taking the first SSNs and birth dates she saw. It took less than a minute.

With my "digits," the University employee attempted to buy several computers and charged over $1,100 on a credit card she ordered in my name. Plea-bargaining 21 felonies and misdemeanors into a wrist-slapping, she got three years' probation while I tried to restore my tarnished credit.

The use of SSNs on exams, class rosters and other University documents can, and should, stop now. Even the last four digits are unnecessary.

Ultimately, the University must eliminate the SSN as a tracking number except where legally necessary. However, I do not expect this to happen anytime soon. The registrar appeared unconcerned in 2001 (and refused requests to discuss the issue), and a committee quietly concluded that the technology-related costs of protecting students were too great.

Anyone wishing not to become the next victim should visit the Office of the Registrar in the Franklin Building and request an "assigned number" that will act as their SSN.

Further, the SSN is not legally required on documents such as admissions applications and insurance forms. It is best to leave the field blank or to request the legal basis for using the number.

Adrian Jones

Wharton '01

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.