Here is the latest privacy breach to have occurred at California universities:
Hacker taps into CSUH server :"Records of 2,000 students potentially affected, school says
By Ricci Graham, STAFF WRITERHAYWARD -- A computer hacker somehow gained access to the records of about 2,000 Cal State Hayward students earlier this month, prompting campus officials to send out letters warning students that their personal information may have been compromised.
Kim Huggett, director of public affairs at Cal State Hayward, said on Wednesday that officials have not determined how the hacker was able to 'briefly gain unauthorized access' to student records through one of the campus servers. ..."
This is just the most recent of a number of incidents reported in the last little while. (See Incident: Identity theft alert for CSU students and staff and Incident: Computer System at U.C. San Diego Hacked.) I'm not sure if this means that practices are more lax in California or whether they just report on these incidents more often.