Most people don’t want to talk about their grades in front of other students, let alone broadcast them to their peers. Unfortunately, this is the situation that some Saint Joseph’s University students were put in over this past spring break.
On Wednesday, March 6, 2013, Patrick O’Brien, associate dean of the Erivan K. Haub School of Business, sent an email to students with information regarding an internship in Italy. What O’Brien did not realize was that the email contained an attachment that showed the cumulative grade point averages (GPA’s) of juniors and seniors in the business school with GPA’s higher than a 3.25.
11 minutes later, a follow-up email was sent to recipients, asking that they immediately destroy the email.
The following day, O’Brien sent an email to every student whose GPA was included in the attachment and every student who received it, apologizing for the mistake and again asking for anyone who still had the email to delete it immediately.
In the apology email, O’Brien spoke of the Jesuit mission of the university, and how the “ideal of moral discernment” should sway recipients to not prolong the effects of the email by forwarding it to friends.
Steve Fallon, ’14, explained that he thought that the apology email actually made students more interested in the original.
“I know a lot of students who got it and deleted it because the school barrages us with emails at times,” said Fallon. “I was on Appalachia when I got the email, so [by the time I was back] I saw them both at the same time. So then obviously I was intrigued, that’s why I ended up looking at it at all.”
An incident like this is not unprecedented at the university level. A similar accident occurred at Cheyney University this January, when an employee accidentally emailed students, faculty, and alumni the names, addresses, and social security numbers of numerous students.
Alyssa Beck, ’15, received the email and said that she was surprised when she saw it.
“Luckily it isn’t something that people can do real damage with, but it is still private information that was shared with a couple hundred people and has the potential to be spread with the whole school,” said Beck.
Fallon voiced the opinion that, with the situation at St. Joe’s, at least the email only contained the GPA’s of students with a 3.25 or higher.
“It’s better in the fact that it was only people who had above a 3.25, but I know some people who have that GPA but weren’t on there for whatever reason,” said Fallon. “I think it’s better that it did happen to people [with a higher] GPA, rather than someone who has [a lower one] and they’re embarrassed about that fact. That would be more of a big deal.”
Unfortunately, some students have brought up the point that despite the fact that the list only shows student GPA’s above 3.25, readers can figure out which students has GPA’s low enough to not make the list.
Beck explained that she hoped everyone made the right choice when they received the email.
“I haven’t heard anyone talking about it, so my guess and my hope is that students act responsibly. You kind of have to hope that the integrity of students will come into play,” said Beck.
At press time, Brice R. Wachterhauser, Ph.D, provost and professor of philosophy, and O’Brien did not return multiple emails and phone calls requesting a comment. Joseph A. DiAngelo, Jr., Ed.D, dean and professor of the Haub School of Business, declined to comment due to the legal nature of the incident. At press time, he explained that a statement from the university concerning the incident was anticipated to be sent out to the Saint Joseph’s University community on Tuesday, March 19.