On Thursday, April 6th 2023, the Ashesi Judicial Committee (AJC) heard and deliberated on allegations of unauthorised use of a student’s meal plan information by another student.
Background
The complainant reported suspicious activity on their meal plan account to the Support Centre, which was referred to the I.T team. An investigation named the accused as the suspect making purchases from the complainant's meal plan. The AJC deliberated on the following infractions of policies in the Student Handbook: “Students who are found to have stolen property (or attempted to) from members of the University community are subject to an AJC hearing which could lead to dismissal.” (Section 9.4); “Individuals must not use another person’s user ID without express permission.” (Section 9.6 (1c).
Hearing
The Committee reviewed evidence uncovered by the forensic audit, as well as heard statements from the complainant, the accused, and others. During the hearing, the accused admitted to having typed down the complainant’s meal plan ID and PIN after overhearing it being shared at a vending point. The accused also admitted to having made one purchase from the plan holder’s account without permission. However, the forensic investigation revealed that the accused had made at least three unauthorised purchases from the account.
Verdict & Recommendations
After carefully reviewing all the case facts, the AJC concluded that the student was guilty. Due to the details of the incident, the Committee voted that the student be dismissed from the University.
Advise to the community:
- While being kind to others is encouraged at Ashesi, students should not share their meal plan ID details and passwords in any form with others. Should it become necessary to purchase meals/snacks for another, students should kindly go to the vending point and complete the transaction themselves. If you cannot go to the vending point for any reason, kindly ask another student to complete the transaction from their account and make payment arrangement later. The Natembea Health Centre also has a process for purchasing meals for students who are on admission.
- Students who share meal plan details should understand that they are placing the system's integrity at risk and exposing their accounts to unauthorised access by others.
- All vendors must ensure they have the equipment to scan ID cards and fully operate the meal plan system. Meal plan IDs should not be entered manually. The Committee recommends that the University implements a policy for fining vendors who continue to do this or terminate contracts if the behaviour is repeated.
This case provides a lot of learning for the entire community. Parents/guardians upload money onto this meal-plan system to ensure their wards have adequate food for the day, and a breach in that has ramifications that go beyond their wards possibly going to bed hungry, into loss of trust in Ashesi’s community code of ethics and our mission to train a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders in Africa; to cultivate within our students the critical thinking skills, concern for others, and the courage it will take to transform a continent. This code applies to all, no matter the circumstance.