Watch the sentencing of former Adrian College history professor, Stephanie June Jass, by clicking the photo YouTube video.

After Jass hacked his email account, President Jeffrey Docking told Inside Higher Ed,

“Everybody — staff, students, the community — have had just about enough of their privacy being invaded, with credit cards stolen or mortgages being looked at, or emails and personal texts hacked.”

That citation is apt as most of us have little tolerance anymore for any kind of invasion of privacy. Intentional hacking by a friend or colleague is relatively rare. As such, the Jass case has special implications because of the extent of the infraction on a college campus.

Interpersonal Divide in the Age of the Machine covers email hacking and other cyber crimes being committed by people of all social classes, primarily because of the temptation to view confidential information or otherwise gain access to private data for personal or corporate gain.

According to IHE, Jass read confidential emails about other employees in addition to messages “between him and his wife and adult children about family medical and other issues.”

The hacking occurred in April 2017.

The Daily (MI) Telegraph, which covered Jass’s sentencing, reported that she pleaded guilty to one felony count of unauthorized computer access. County Circuit Judge Margaret M.S. Noe admonished her not “to disappoint this court or violate your terms of probation. That would just be intolerable.”

IHE reported that Jass made a plea deal, agreeing to one year’s probation with payment of restitution. Violating probation could mean five years’ prison time.  

Jass, previously also known as a 7-time Jeopardy game show champion, reportedly expressed remorse for “all the pain that I have caused my friends, my family, my community, and I am ready to make amends and go back to being a credit to my friends, my family, my congregation and my community.”

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