College Newspaper Writing and Layout Sample - Student data missing

1
CHRIS EDWARDS Editor Whether lost, simply misplaced or in other hands, what’s certain right now is that FAFSA financial aid application records for roughly 2,000 Berry students and recent alumni aren’t where they are supposed to be — Berry College. On Wednesday, students received letters and emails notifying them of the potential threat to affected individuals’ personal information, including names, social security numbers and reported fam- ily income. College President Stephen R. Briggs appealed personally to students and media outlets, spelling out the events that led to an external consulting firm essen- tially taking the records off campus and consequently misplacing them. The press releases and official statements also spell out ways Berry is seeking to rectify the sit- uation and provide relief to those affected by the security breach. “I’m sure they [Berry] are doing every- thing they can,” said senior Catherine Huff. “They’re doing all that they can do. I’m not upset by the way that they’re han- dling it.” With the breach generally affecting sophomores, juniors, seniors and May graduates the most, little concern has been given to freshmen unless they applied for FAFSA for the 2005-2006 school year. While Huff wasn’t especially worried about her information being used against her in identity theft or similar fraud, oth- ers are somewhat concerned. “The biggest thing that I’m concerned about is the fact that it’s our social security number and our parents’ information,” said senior Fiona McAllister. “I’m not so much concerned about my own personal credit because I don’t have any really set up enough for somebody to be able to ruin it. But for my parents, I’m really concerned about the repercussions it might have for them.” While it is unsure the records contain much information about the parents’ iden- tities, official statements indicate reported family incomes are part of the information on the misplaced records. However, Briggs also said there is “no reason to believe that information has been obtained by unau- thorized persons or used fraudulently.” Further, he reiterated that Berry’s internal records like VikingWeb are secure. The Rome News-Tribune reported that the consultant who misplaced the data worked for Financial Aid Services, Inc., and according to reports by Fox 5 Atlanta, the consultant lost the records last Friday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on her way out of town. In their report, Briggs also said that Berry is work- ing with airport police to try and recover the records if possible. The records were both paper and digital. Berry has established a Web site at berry. edu/stulife/idprotect to keep students up- to-date on developments and offer tools to report suspicious activities regarding their credit or personal finances. To inquire about their credit history without penalty or fee, Berry is contract- ing with Equifax to offer affected students and alumni access to their credit files. Additionally, a hot line to answer ques- tions on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. has been established at 1-800-961-4963. Still, some Berry students want to know more, specifically regarding what Berry is going to do with the consulting firm. “It would be kind of nice if we could find out what they’re doing, in terms of with this consultant, and whether they plan on continuing to use them first of all or whether they plan on taking any legal action against them,” McAllister said. Campus Carrier BERRY COLLEGE, MOUNT BERRY, GEORGIA VOL. 98 No.5 SEPTEMBER 21 2006 Fast food to fitness classes: Ways to stay in shape ... p. 7 The bus stops at BCTC Sept. 28 ... p. 12 www.berry.edu/ stulife/carrier Test your knowledge: Look inside for some sports trivia ... p. 9 STEPHEN LINDLEY, PHOTO EDITOR In celebrating the Cage Center ground-breaking last Thursday, former college president Scott Colley, current president Stephen Briggs, Kim Cage, Steven J. Cage, interim chairman of the board of trustees W. Glenn Cornell and former chairman of the board of trustees William B. Stokely participated in the turning of the dirt, a ground-breaking tradition. ID theft scares prompt responses Student FAFSA data misplaced at airport STEPHEN LINDLEY, PHOTO EDITOR Television news crews, including this one from WSB’s Channel Two in Atlanta, were a common sight across campus yesterday as media outlets found out about the misplaced records. WSB aired its report live from campus Wednesday night at 11 p.m. CHRIS EDWARDS Editor The same day Berry was making state headlines and news reels with its ordeal over records security breaches, national headlines featured the Bush administration’s task force on identity theft coming to some conclusions over the growing crime of ID theft. Suffering from several similar data security breaches in various depart- ments, the government has sought to find ways to combat both data breaches and the increasing instance of ID theft itself. According to bbbonline.org, a 2005 survey about ID theft finds that 9.3 mil- lion Americans suffered the crime in a 12 month period, costing the economy $56.2 billion. Also, ID theft often results in victims spending countless hours fix- ing their damaged credit scores. BERRYS ACTIONS Established a Web site at berry.edu/ stulife/idprotect that educates those affected by the misplaced records. Set up a hot line to answer questions at 1-800-961-4963 during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contracted with Equifax to offer af- fected individuals the strongest level of protection in both monitoring their credit report and guarding against ID theft. Provided a link to affected individu- als to report suspicious credit report activity. » » » »

Transcript of College Newspaper Writing and Layout Sample - Student data missing

Page 1: College Newspaper Writing and Layout Sample - Student data missing

Chris EdwardsEditor

Whether lost, simply misplaced or in other hands, what’s certain right now is that FAFSA financial aid application records for roughly 2,000 Berry students and recent alumni aren’t where they are supposed to be — Berry College.

On Wednesday, students received letters and emails notifying them of the potential threat to affected individuals’ personal information, including names, social security numbers and reported fam-ily income.

College President Stephen R. Briggs appealed personally to students and media outlets, spelling out the events that led to an external consulting firm essen-tially taking the records off campus and consequently misplacing them. The press releases and official statements also spell out ways Berry is seeking to rectify the sit-uation and provide relief to those affected by the security breach.

“I’m sure they [Berry] are doing every-thing they can,” said senior Catherine Huff. “They’re doing all that they can do. I’m not upset by the way that they’re han-dling it.”

With the breach generally affecting sophomores, juniors, seniors and May graduates the most, little concern has been given to freshmen unless they applied for FAFSA for the 2005-2006 school year.

While Huff wasn’t especially worried about her information being used against her in identity theft or similar fraud, oth-ers are somewhat concerned.

“The biggest thing that I’m concerned about is the fact that it’s our social security number and our parents’ information,” said senior Fiona McAllister. “I’m not so much concerned about my own personal credit because I don’t have any really set up enough for somebody to be able to ruin it. But for my parents, I’m really concerned about the repercussions it might have for them.”

While it is unsure the records contain much information about the parents’ iden-tities, official statements indicate reported

family incomes are part of the information on the misplaced records. However, Briggs also said there is “no reason to believe that information has been obtained by unau-thorized persons or used fraudulently.” Further, he reiterated that Berry’s internal records like VikingWeb are secure.

The Rome News-Tribune reported that the consultant who misplaced the data worked for Financial Aid Services, Inc., and according to reports by Fox 5 Atlanta, the consultant lost the records last Friday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

in Atlanta on her way out of town. In their report, Briggs also said that Berry is work-ing with airport police to try and recover the records if possible. The records were both paper and digital.

Berry has established a Web site at berry.edu/stulife/idprotect to keep students up-to-date on developments and offer tools to report suspicious activities regarding their credit or personal finances.

To inquire about their credit history without penalty or fee, Berry is contract-ing with Equifax to offer affected students

and alumni access to their credit files. Additionally, a hot line to answer ques-

tions on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. has been established at 1-800-961-4963. Still, some Berry students want to know more, specifically regarding what Berry is going to do with the consulting firm.

“It would be kind of nice if we could find out what they’re doing, in terms of with this consultant, and whether they plan on continuing to use them first of all or whether they plan on taking any legal action against them,” McAllister said.

Campus CarrierBerry College, Mount Berry, georgia

Vol. 98No.5

SepteMBer

212006

Fast food to fitness classes: Ways to stay in shape ... p. 7

The bus stops at BCTC Sept. 28 ... p. 12

www.berry.edu/ stulife/carrier

Test your knowledge: Look inside for some sports trivia ... p. 9

Stephen LindLey, Photo Editor

In celebrating the Cage Center ground-breaking last Thursday, former college president Scott Colley, current president Stephen Briggs, Kim Cage, Steven J. Cage, interim chairman of the board of trustees W. Glenn Cornell and former chairman of the board of trustees William B. Stokely participated in the turning of the dirt, a ground-breaking tradition.

id theft scares prompt responses

Student FAFSA data misplaced at airport

Stephen LindLey, Photo Editor

Television news crews, including this one from WSB’s Channel Two in Atlanta, were a common sight across campus yesterday as media outlets found out about the misplaced records. WSB aired its report live from campus Wednesday night at 11 p.m.

Chris EdwardsEditor

The same day Berry was making state headlines and news reels with its ordeal over records security breaches, national headlines featured the Bush administration’s task force on identity theft coming to some conclusions over the growing crime of ID theft.

Suffering from several similar data security breaches in various depart-ments, the government has sought to find ways to combat both data breaches and the increasing instance of ID theft itself.

According to bbbonline.org, a 2005 survey about ID theft finds that 9.3 mil-lion Americans suffered the crime in a 12 month period, costing the economy $56.2 billion. Also, ID theft often results in victims spending countless hours fix-ing their damaged credit scores.

Berry’s actionsEstablished a Web site at berry.edu/stulife/idprotect that educates those affected by the misplaced records.

Set up a hot line to answer questions at 1-800-961-4963 during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Contracted with Equifax to offer af-fected individuals the strongest level of protection in both monitoring their credit report and guarding against ID theft.

Provided a link to affected individu-als to report suspicious credit report activity.

»

»

»

»