On The Edge News

By Rebecca Dickman

OTE Editor

March 14, 2022

Edgewood College officials confirmed this week that 15 students who attended personal counseling sessions had their personal information inappropriately shared with a small group of individuals in early February.

The breach of privacy occurred after Wellness Center’s Personal Counseling Employees inadvertently shared student data on a Microsoft Team’s site, according to college officials. 

Despite the exposure, two students who had their data shared inappropriately– one of them through a video recording of the student during a counseling session– said that they would still recommend staff services to those who are in need of counseling. 

The students requested that their names not be used out of concern for their privacy. They said they received an email from the college as a notification of the breach on Feb. 17.

One student, whose video had been mistakenly released, said officials reported one viewer clicked on the video file, and immediately closed it. College officials said Personal Counseling Services contacted the person who viewed the video to ensure that the identity of the student has not been compromised, the student said.

However, the students interviewed by OTE and college officials said they have no further data on how many people may have viewed other students’ personal information.

Ed Taylor, chief communications officer for Edgewood College, said the 15 affected students have been contacted about the extent to which they may have been impacted.

Taylor said the college took action to prevent further incidents by requiring Personal Counseling services staff to switch from using Teams and revert to the use of Webex for telehealth appointments. 

“We are very adept at the use of WebEx for this purpose,” Taylor said in an email, adding that the college has used WebEx to serve students since before the pandemic.

Those who were possibly affected were invited to reach out to Personal Counseling Services, or the Dean of Students with questions, he said. 

Students say that despite this issue, they do not feel personally harmed by this incident. 

One of the students whose personal information had been potentially exposed said that this experience was not a large concern for them.

 “As soon as I first heard of the Microsoft Teams issue, I was also told it had been resolved. I never felt like I had been the victim of something malicious,” the student said. 

Another affected student said they felt similarly, but saw this breach to be careless on the part of Personal Counseling. 

“I wasn’t concerned for myself personally,” the person said. “It did seem pretty negligent to let confidential info reach more eyes though.” 

Taylor said the Wellness Center and Personal Counseling Services exists to serve Edgewood students. 

“(Those departments) continue to do important work for the health and wellbeing of our students,” Taylor said. “It is staffed by experienced professionals, who maintain the highest professional standards at all times, in compliance with state and federal law, professional ethics, and best practices.”