Joanne Creighton <jcreight@haverford.edu>  Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 1:49 PM
To: hc-students-broadcast <hc-students-broadcast@haverford.edu>, hc-faculty-broadcast@haverford.edu, hc-staff-broadcast <hc-staff-broadcast@haverford.edu>, hc-bom <hc-bom@haverford.edu>

Dear Members of the Haverford Community:

As you may know, someone impersonating President Creighton went to great lengths in an attempt to deceive this community into believing that the College would be making significant financial aid policy changes relating to undocumented students living in the U.S.  The message was sent from a gmail account designed to look like one that belongs to the president, and was addressed to our email list servers in a further effort to make it appear legitimate.  Though the message did not get approved by our list moderators, those of you who received it may have deduced that a separate, bcc list (compiled by the sender) was used as a backup method of delivery.

This deception required deliberation, planning and forethought.  This was not a musing sent by accident; it was not a poorly-considered April Fool's joke; it was not a private message gone viral. There is no other way to describe this other than as an act of fraud. The idea of impersonating the identity of the president as a way of 'contributing' to the betterment of this community is deeply misguided—a gross violation of the honor code.

This act of fraud also threatens to discredit what is otherwise a meaningful and important discussion. But rest assured, this attempt to influence a dialogue will not taint our interest in the underlying issue which has been supported by students in a recent Plenary resolution and is the subject of conversations with the senior administration, the Faculty and Student Admission Committee, and among the Board of Managers. 

Kim Benston, Provost
Mike Casel, Associate Vice President of Finance and Director of Investments
Joanne Creighton, President
Martha Denney, Dean of the College
Michael Kiefer, Vice President for Advancement
Jess Lord, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Jesse Lytle, Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Managers
Chris Mills ’82, Assistant Vice President for College Communications
Joe Spadaro, Chief Information Officer
Dick Wynn, Vice President for Finance and Administration