University of Pennsylvania Fires Admission Rep for Facebook Postings

By Cynthia Herbert :: 10:41 AM

The University of Pennsylvania has fired an employee in their admissions office for posting details and comments about applicants to the University on Facebook.

Penn’s student newspaper,  The Daily Pennsylvanian, is reporting that Nadirah Farah Foley was dismissed after sharing portions of student application essays on her Facebook profile. Posts that Foley allegedly made on Facebook included excerpts of student essays along with her commentary about them.

In one instance, she quoted a portion of an admission essay where the applicant described overcoming his fear of using the bathroom outdoors while camping in the wilderness, and offered the snarky comment, “another gem.”

Foley’s comments somehow made their way to the college admission discussion board College Confidential, where high school students talk about admissions issues and the process of applying and getting accepted to college.

“This loses my respect for UPenn and for the general admissions process SOOO much,”  a user said on the discussion board.

Copies of the posts were sent to the dean of admissions at Penn, Eric Furda, and Foley was dismissed. The University did not confirm that her dismissal was directly related to the postings, however. Foley had worked for Penn since 2011.

The Office of the Provost at Penn is currently reviewing policy changes that cover the privacy of applicant data and essay information.