Some female athletes received a group e-mail, while some other students received personalized, individual messages. In one of the e-mails obtained by The Student Life the author wrote, "I would like to see and videotape you naked, playing sports, preferably swimming, tennis, basketball, golf, and possibly bowling… Volleyball would be great!!!!"

Most of the e-mails included a number of personal references to at least one of the recipients. The details included classes they attend, places they frequent, and even injuries they have sustained.

It was the personal details that recipients found most disconcerting, according to RAs and people close to the investigation. "Many of the e-mails included racial epithets, misogynist messages, and even rape threats," Head Sponsor Laura Ephraim ’00 said. "Including specific details of peoples’ lives made the e-mails that much more threatening."

Assistant Dean of Campus Life Frank Bedoya, who now has a number of the e-mails, said that he "wouldn’t consider them rape threats," but added that "the recipients could have interpreted them that way." At one point during the interview, Bedoya appeared visibly moved and paused for a moment. "I sympathize with them, because I read what’s out there and it makes me sick to my stomach."

One African-American student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that she was "mostly shocked" after receiving an e-mail. The e-mail, which included personal information alongside what she described as "sexually and racially derogatory and offensive" content left her feeling paranoid.

The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "I never considered that his would happen here. In fact, a large part of the reason why I chose Pomona is that I thought that this sort of thing wouldn’t be something I would have to worry about. I feel as if I should be safe here." While she describes her sponsors, the RAs and Deans as all being very supportive, she feels uncomfortable at a college where she has been told by administrators "not to walk around alone at night."

Ephraim received an e-mail that begins, "I must say you are one fuck of a stupid bitch," apparently in response to an opinions article she wrote for the February 4 issue of The Student Life. "The e-mail was nicer than the others," Ephraim told The Student Life. "Don’t take it as being representative." A similar e-mail was sent to The Student Life Editor in Chief Megan Purn ’00 regarding her "Letter From the Editor" in the same issue.

Calling the e-mails "cowardly," Bedoya would "in no way say that these [e-mails] are representative [of the community as a whole]. We’re nowhere near being at a level of diversity that is going to please everyone. This is why we have to try even harder when things like this happen."

Bedoya promised that there would be a response from Residential Housing Staff (RHS). He also said that it was too soon to say exactly what that response would be. "While we’re deciding on a direction, we’re focusing on conscious support," Bedoya said.

For Ephraim, the response must address what she describes as an "attitude of permissibility" regarding racism, sexism, and homophobia which she thinks is present at Pomona. While Bedoya acknowledges that there have been incidents of this type reported in the past several years, he does not see it as an escalating pattern. Dean of Students Ann Quinley echoed this sentiment, saying that the number of occurrences in every category of hate crime had diminished during her time at Pomona.

The e-mails were collected by Head Sponsor Melissa Beaver ’00 on Saturday and Sunday, and given to Bedoya on Monday. Since that time, RHS has been working hard to catch the people involved. Students receiving e-mails of this nature should page the Dean-On Call immediately, regardless of the time of day or night, according to Quinley.

Catching the responsible parties has been difficult, as they forged their e-mail addresses, making them hard, if not impossible to trace. The perpetrators exploited what has become a well-known loophole in mail programs. The Pomona College mail server is old, and does not require its users to "authenticate" themselves when sending mail, making it easy for someone with a modicum of computer skills to forge e-mails.

"It’s extremely easy, and the loophole is well known," former OIT employee Jon Vanasco ’00 said. "Anyone can do it."

According to Office of Information Technology Director Terris "Terry" Wolff, while the bug is well known, there isn’t anything his office can do about it. "As long as anyone uses" any number of popular mail programs, "this will still be possible," Wolff said. The problem will not be ameliorated when OIT gets a new mail server either, according to Wolff. It is an industry wide problem currently without a solution.