San Francisco State University officials have put students and staff on alert because a thief broke into a faculty member's car earlier this month and stole a laptop with nearly 3,000 Social Security numbers and names of former and current students.
Students' phone numbers and grade-point averages were also on the stolen laptop "in some cases," according to an information sheet posted on the campus Web site.
"The university employee's car was burglarized and the laptop was stolen on Thursday, June 1," the Web site says.
But university officials did not learn of the theft until five days later, said Ellen Griffin, the university's spokeswoman, who declined to say what disciplinary actions, if any, had been taken against the faculty member.
"All we'll say is that we've taken appropriate actions," said Griffin. However, it is "very common" for faculty members to keep student information on their computers, she said.
Police told the university that they have made no progress in recovering the stolen information, and that they are treating the matter as a "typical break-in into a car," said Griffin, adding that police don't believe the thief knew in advance that the students' information was on the laptop.
San Francisco State University stopped using Social Security numbers for student identification last July 1, when a new state law took effect. By contrast, UC campuses individually stopped using Social Security numbers between four and eight years ago, a spokesman said.
In all, the Social Security numbers of 2,751 former San Francisco State students and 65 current students were stolen. The campus began notifying them on June 12.
"We suggest that you be on the alert for any misuse of your personal information," university registrar Suzanne Dmytrenko warned in a letter to all who were affected, as well as to 219 others whose partial Social Security numbers were on the laptop.
California law requires state agencies to disclose when personal information has been stolen.
School officials also notified the faculty of the theft and told them to be more careful.
"People don't necessarily think to go back and make sure the information on their computers is consistent with new guidelines," said Griffin. "So we have sent out an e-mail to all faculty reminding them of good practices and of the need to protect privacy."
The university has posted an information sheet at www.sfsu.edu/~admisrec/reg/idtheft.html.
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