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UMW police hunt author of missive

UMW tries to track down the source of mass e-mail

By KELLY HANNON

Date published: 1/18/2005

By KELLY HANNON 'Offensive' e-mail, addressed to 'dems and liberals,' sent to 4,000

A mass e-mail to University of Mary Washington students has triggered a police investigation.

The message was distributed to every UMW student--about 4,000 people--and uses sharp language to criticize "dems and liberals." It was sent Sunday afternoon from a campus e-mail account.

UMW Police Chief James Snipes said his office is trying to determine who sent it.

"People are very upset about it," Snipes said. "We started getting [complaints] almost as soon as it went out."

The message originated from an e-mail account in the political science department, according to Chip German, UMW vice president for information technologies. He said multiple people had access to the account and its password.

The account allows users to send an e-mail to the entire student body, German said. While some other departments have that broad power, most university accounts do not. Individual students, for example, cannot send mass campus e-mails, he said.

Although the investigation is under way, German said it's his belief that the person who sent it gained access to the account password.

"I believe this is a simple case of human beings and the difficulty of protecting passwords when the account's shared," German said.

No student records were accessed by the e-mail sender, German said.

The security of campus computer networks faced scrutiny last week when Fairfax County-based George Mason University revealed a computer hacker had gained access to student records.

Mary Washington officials sent a response e-mail to all students yesterday morning.

"I would like to assure every student at Mary Washington that neither the administration nor the faculty would ever approve dissemination of an offensive e-mail such as the one that was sent to all students and was made to appear as though it came from the College Republicans through the Political Science Department e-mail account," wrote Bernard Chirico, vice president for student affairs.

Sophomore Andrew Lamar, president of UMW College Republicans, said the group and its members were not involved in sending the e-mail.

"It in no way represents the class and demeanor of the people

who are involved with College Republicans," Lamar said.

Lamar said he thinks the e-mail was an attempt by someone to make College Republicans "look bad."

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Date published: 1/18/2005