We live in interesting times where reality stars and quiz show contestants are somehow elevated in many people’s eyes for answering a bunch of questions about Victorian England or decorating a 1934 roadster with flames. We are shocked when these “stars” are somehow caught doing something they should not. Unethical Behavior for $50 Alex! 
Stephanie June Jass
Do you remember Stephanie Jass? It is OK if you don’t, for in the world of anything reality or quiz show related, fame is usually very fleeting. However, Ms. Jass just found a way to extend her time “on a stage.”
Stephanie Jass made teaching history just a bit more glamorous. She was a history professor (emphasis on was), at Adrian College in Michigan. Jass had an incredible 10 time run on “Jeopardy!” and won approximately $166,000. For a brief period, she was a campus celebrity, and who knows where her “fame” might have taken her in this odd time.
However, Professor Jass had another skill outside of history. She was apparently a whiz on the computer.
The Michigan State Police have charged her with cyber-crime. The investigation began after several faculty members felt that their personal information had been breached. Jass apparently accessed several Adrian College email accounts without authorization. The charges against her include unauthorized access to a computer, computer program or network, as well as using a computer to commit a crime.
According to the Michigan State Police:
“Using the services of a computer, computer program or network without authorization or exceeding unauthorized access with the State of Michigan is a violation of state law.”
Why she was accessing the personal email accounts of other faculty members is not known at this time. Was it to commit fraud, such as accessing credit cards or bank accounts? Was it something much more personal?
The law in this case doesn’t care if Professor Jass was intent on ordering history books through another professor’s Amazon account, or if she was nosing around to see if a secret affair was unfolding. The fact that she was breaking into email accounts was bad enough. It carries its own unethical tragedy.
Why Risk It All?
Presumably, she made a choice because she was given the opportunity to do so. Jass saw a flaw in the system and she chose to exploit others. Was the “opportunity” created by a weakness in the Adrian College security system? Was the opportunity made apparent after she viewed another professor accessing his/her account? Did she look over someone’s shoulder in a coffee shop?
Whatever the reason the opportunity presented itself to commit cyber-fraud, instead of Professor Jass applying a good sense of ethics and reporting the weakness to the school’s cyber-security department or ignoring the email accounts and passwords of other faculty, she seized the opportunity to take the unethical route.
What need did the professor with $166,000 in earnings and a good job have to fulfill by accessing email accounts? Was it to collect another chunk of money illegally or was it more personal and sinister? We may tend to think that Professor Jass, because she appeared before millions on a quiz show, would be above us in the realms of ethics and human frailty. In truth, she is no better than any of us, no more than a Hollywood star or a politician.
Rationalization in this case of this ethics fraud is very interesting to me. Professor Jass by virtue of her winnings and even her title may have actually convinced herself she was one of the brightest and the best, the so-called “smartest guy in the room.” The degree to which her thinking may have taken her might have been an absolute conviction that no one at Adrian College was clever enough to catch her accessing their private accounts. In her mind, they were fools and dummies, incapable of matching wits with her. She may have also rationalized she was doing no harm. After all, she may have reasoned, who would care if I intruded on their personal lives?
In the end, Professor Jass with her brief celebrity, intelligence and “wealth,” was much less honest than the grocery clerk making minimum wage who called your attention to the fact that you left your mobile device on the counter.
Despite the credentials of Professor Jass, it was clear she lacked training in the most skilled of life’s courses; ethics. She is not to be envied. Unethical Behavior for $50 Alex!
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