The Setonian is disappointed by Tuesday's accidental leak of the personal information of 1,500 students. We believe incidents of this nature should not occur within a University.
Members of our editorial board are divided in our opinions. Some of us could not care less that the information that was on the spreadsheet was accidentally distributed, while others are very upset that students' information, particularly GPAs were shared. We all agree, however, that the incident should not have occurred.
The Setonian does not believe that this leak was intentional or malicious but that it was an honest mistake on the behalf of the College of Arts and Sciences. However, the fact a single spreadsheet with the personal information of 1,500 students was accessible to someone who was not an administrator is particularly troubling to us.
Students expect a certain level of privacy from Seton Hall, a level which is should to be guaranteed by the University. While some students, including some of our editors, would not care that our GPAs or number of credits earned were shared, others would care.
The bottom line is that students should have the right to determine who this information is shared with, and should be confident that the University will respect that right to privacy.
We are pleased to hear that the University is taking the matter seriously and has taken precautions to protect the students whose information was accidentally distributed. Hopefully information leaks, such as Tuesday's or something more serious, do not occur in the future.
We hope students who have received the e-mail will respect the privacy of their peers and refrain from opening, distributing and discussing the spreadsheet and its content.
