In Wake of Facebook Incident, Penn Issues Rules on Applicant Privacy

The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday announced new rules to protect the privacy of those who apply to enroll there. The rules stress the importance of privacy, and of sharing information about applicants only for specific, professionally related reasons. Just a few weeks ago, the university was embarrassed by reports that a former admissions officer had been mocking applicants on Facebook. But a university spokesman said via e-mail that the admissions privacy rules had been in the works for months and "were not in any way a response" to the behavior of the former admissions officer.