U. will not punish student who deleted newsgroup postings

Wharton and Engineering senior Matt Kratter is off the hook -- at least for now. University officials said last night they decided not to take disciplinary action against Kratter, despite the possibility that he violated University policies when he deleted newsgroup messages posted by three students and one University employee without their permission. Kratter apologized for his actions yesterday morning. But Kratter's ENIAC account was deactivated at 12:30 a.m. yesterday for unspecified reasons. According to Ira Winston, director of computing for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the account's deactivation was completely unrelated to Kratter's newsgroup article deletions. "There are several reasons why we might deactivate accounts -- for instance, if we suspect someone may have had access to the account or if the person did something wrong," Winston said, adding that the shut-down is temporary, pending a discussion with Kratter. But Winston said Kratter's apology provided enough reason to not take any disciplinary action against him. "I think the apology note he sent indicates he understands he made a mistake," Winston said. The deleted posts were part of a "flame war" on upenn.talk about the U.S. Navy and the Eisenhower -- the first U.S. aircraft carrier to include both men and women -- on which 15 women allegedly became pregnant. Students reacted to the University's response with mixed opinions last night. "The Engineering School's integrity is on the line on this one," said College junior Thor Halvorssen, who was involved in the flame war with Kratter and had postings deleted. "This is not a matter of Thor versus Matt -- this is a matter of serious violations of University policy." Halvorssen said he wishes the University would take action against Kratter, but refused to comment on whether he was going to press charges against him. But Engineering junior and Internet expert Meng Weng Wong said he agreed with the University's decision not to take action. "I am sure he realized what he did was wrong and he won't do it again," Wong said. "If he were not repentant, which I believe he is, then perhaps students would file charges and open expression guidelines should be called in." Wong said the ability to delete posts and forge cancellations indicates a larger problem the University must confront. "Now that people know it can be done, people will be forging posts," Wong added. "And that will be annoying." One solution to the forgings involves changing the methods of posting, he said. "They turned off posting from residential labs, but that doesn't quite solve it completely," Wong said. "They should have required authentication where you'd have to type in your network ID and password to post." Originally Kratter, the past chairperson of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, denied deleting the articles. Kratter was unavailable for comment last night.