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Whitman Employee Sends Email With Students’ GPAs Whitman Advisor Sends Email With Students' GPAs

By Amanda Albert

ANC: Last Friday, an employee in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University accidentally leaked an excel sheet that included students’ G-P-As and S-U I-D numbers.

ALBERT: Alicin Welsh, assistant director of the Whitman Career Center, attached the excel sheet to an email about marketing job opportunities. Around 90 students, including junior Arielle Koeppel, received the email. The list includes the G-P-As of all Whitman students in the Class of 20-21.

KOEPPEL: All of their G-P-As, all of their S-U I-Ds, all of their information that I would personally, and I do not think anyone would want, anyone to have.

ALBERT: Koeppel is extremely upset that other students have access to her personal information.

KOEPPEL: I don’t need anyone knowing what my G-P-A is. That’s personal to me. I don’t need to see anyone else’s G-P-A and I felt that this was not okay.

ALBERT: On the other hand, junior Jess Adler feels unaffected by what happened.

ADLER: Honestly, I don’t really care. It doesn’t really impact me that much. I think if I had a worse G-P-A then I would care.

ALBERT: A few hours after the initial email was sent out, Whitman sent the students another email asking them to delete the one with the G-P-As.

KOEPPEL: But in reality, not everyone will delete this email and people will still have this.

ALBERT: Adler agrees that people will keep and read the excel sheet.

ADLER: I doubt people will actually delete it. I think that people are going to keep the email and probably show other people other people’s G-P-As.

ALBERT: Whitman also sent an apology email to the members of the Class of 20-21.

ALBERT: Amanda Albert, N-C-C News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – On Friday, Oct. 25, Alicin Welsh, Assistant Director of the Whitman Career Center in the Whitman School of Management accidentally released a list including students’ GPAs. Welsh accidentally attached a master excel sheet with information about students in the Whitman Class of 2021 to an email about marketing and retail internships; she sent the document to around 90 students.

Arielle Koeppel, a junior and marketing major received the email with the excel sheet attached. Koeppel was extremely upset when she realized what information was included in this email. Not only did the excel sheet include students’ GPAs, but it also listed SU ID numbers and other personal information.

“I don’t need anyone knowing what my GPA is. That’s personal to me. I don’t need to see anyone else’s GPA and I felt that this was not okay,” Koeppel said.

Junior Jess Adler did not receive the email with the excel sheet, but her name was still on the list. However, she feels unaffected by the situation. “I don’t really care. It doesn’t really impact me that much. I think if I had a worse GPA then I would care,” Adler said.

Students who received the email with the excel sheet were sent a follow up email asking them to delete the list. The email came from Kevin Bailey, Whitman’s Assistant Dean of Marketing and Communications and said “out of respect for the privacy of your fellow students, please delete the email and do not share it with any person.”

Koeppel does not believe students will actually delete the email. Adler adds that students will probably share the document with their peers.

All members of the Whitman Class of 2021 received an apology email.

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Amanda Albert

Amanda Albert is a junior in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, majoring in Broadcast Digital Journalism and minoring in Sport Management. A 2017 graduate of Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest, New Jersey, Albert worked as the sports editor and Editor-in-chief of The Northern Star newspaper. During the summer of 2018, she was a public relations intern for the New York Red Bulls (Major League Soccer). During the summer of 2019, she was a Student Associate at Madison Square Garden Networks.

Other stories by Amanda Albert

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