On Feb. 4, Whitman College dropped a lawsuit aimed at identifying a college faculty member who allegedly tampered with the results of a faculty-wide survey.

The suit was originally filed on Dec. 14 against a John or Jane Doe, believed to be a faculty member.   It was sparked by an anonymous e-mail received by the school in which, according to the Union-Bulletin, the faculty member admitted to “spiking data” in a faculty-wide survey geared towards assessing working conditions.     The faculty member claimed that his phony results were submitted with the intent of demonstrating the ineffectiveness of such surveys.

Represented by the school’s counselor, Jim Hayner, Whitman College filed the suit seeking not only to identify the faculty member, but also to recoup any costs that might have been lost had the survey results been affected.

“The school incurred losses in the sense of lost faculty time and administrative personnel time, said Hayner.   “A good deal of time and effort has been expended on this matter.   In addition, the College has incurred legal fees associated with the lawsuit that was filed for the purpose of determining the identity of the faculty member.”

Included in the suit was a subpoena of information from Google, intended to aid in determining the identity of the supposed faculty member. The anonymous e-mail received by the college was sent from a Google account.

The Whitman College Board of Trustees dropped the suit after the faculty member came forward and agreed to cooperate with the school.

Hayner refused to identify the faculty member.   “All matters concerning alleged faculty misconduct are treated as personnel matters and are strictly confidential,” he said.

Upon learning the identity of the faculty member President George Bridges sent out an e-mail to the faculty explaining the situation; the identity of the hacker was kept anonymous.   In the e-mail Bridges informed the faculty that the situation would be handled in an internal review and investigation.   According to Hayner, the school’s faculty code calls for an investigation by faculty counsel, a determination of misconduct and, if a violation is determined, an appropriate penalty appropriated.

In response to the status of the investigation, Hayner said, “I do not believe there has yet been a finalization.”