An email containing the private information of 1,442 students was sent to a known amount of people Wednesday afternoon.

The email contained the GPAs, E numbers, full names, email addresses, grade levels, ethnicities, majors and TRIO identification numbers of students and was sent along with an email prompting students to become peer mentors.

Not all students who received the email received the spreadsheet, however, The Daily Eastern News has confirmed three students who received the attachment. Three who received the email did not receive the attachment.

It is unknown at this time why some students were sent the information and others were not, as well as exactly how many students received the information.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Jay Gatrell says the university believes the sending of the file was accidental.

“Please know, the University is looking into it and I am confident it was unintentional,” Gatrell said.

In an email sent at 7:59 p.m. Gatrell said he was “writing as ITS is working to extract unopened emails associated with the unintentional and accidental attachment. Also, a separate email has been sent to all potential recipients indicating the email was an error, should not be opened, and should be deleted.”

An email from the original sender, Mona Davenport, Executive Director of Inclusion and Academic Engagement, was sent to potential recipients of the file saying:

“Dear students,

It has come to my attention that I sent an email to you and erroneously attached a file with student information. This was sent in error. If you received the email, please disregard, do not read and delete it and the attached file from your messages. I’ve informed the administration.

Thank you for your assistance in helping me correct this error.

Sincerely,

Mona Davenport”

Emilee Bowman, sophomore English education major, was one of the students who received an email with the attachment.

She said she can see the email causing issues down the road.

“Although it was an accident, EIU definitely needs to be more careful and aware of what they’re doing/sending out. That one document gave out very private information about a ridiculous amount of students. I was on the list and had no clue I would be,” Bowman said “Considering this is the first email I’ve ever received from Mona Davenport, it made me highly uncomfortable that not only she, but now so many of my peers and friends, know private things about me, mainly my GPA … they could go back and search for friends and peers, something that would just cause unnecessary tension and competition among students during an already stressful time.”

Davenport and University President David Glassman have not responded to emails as of press time Wednesday night.

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].