WTF
Lojine Kamel

Is the AUB Administration Spying on Staff and Students?

After the recent spread of information regarding private policies of the American University of Beirut, Al Akhbar reports that the AUB administration requested the personal information of every staff member and student of the institution.

The AUB administration—and more specifically, AUB vice president for legal affairs Peter May, university auditor Andrew Cartwright, and chief operating officer George DeBin—asked for the information from the IT department, who at first declined their request.

However the administration eventually won out—receiving the private details of AUB faculty, staff, and students, in addition to those of the physicians, staff, and patients at the AUB Medical Center.

Al Akhbar tried to contact AUB about the matter, and received the response “All email correspondence at the university is private. Administrations at the university never monitor email activities of the teaching and administrative staff.” They also explained that all the obtained records remained confidential unless “credible evidence of serious violations of the university’s regulations or policies emerges, and where access to email records is needed as part of an ongoing investigation with specific individuals.”

One of the three officials above later admitted to requesting said information, and acknowledged that he already had access to the records.