By breaking into Yale's admissions website, Princeton has committed an act that is not only unethical, bone-headed and probably illegal but also a significant blow to how we understand the ethics of the Ivy League colleges we attend.
At least one high-ranking Princeton admissions officer broke into Yale's website using confidential information from applications given to them in confidence by the very people who believed in Princeton's moral character at least enough to apply there.
Information about who Yale admitted probably did not affect Princeton's admission decisions, which may have already been made. Regardless of what the information was used for, regardless of what Princeton's reasons were, regardless of any weakness in Yale's system and regardless even of whether this action was illegal or what the results of the results of the newly-announced FBI investigation will be, this clear breach of trust by Princeton was blatantly unethical and should, as it has been, be condemned.
Princeton's action was incredibly inane. The university stood to gain very little, and the reason given by Associate Dean of Admissions Steven LeManager for accessing the website -- that he wanted to see if Yale's security was compromised -- is thoroughly unsatisfactory.
There is good reason for Dartmouth and other Ivies to take notice of this scandal. It is the same reason that this is a national news story and not just a local one.
Princeton has a prestigious reputation. The Ivy League gives a lot of weight to its own morals, and to see one of these institutions take an action so blatantly unethical makes us wonder about our own pretensions.
The fact is that people can make moral and intellectual mistakes at any level, no matter how revered an institution. We can see this fact as a reason to accept that Princeton, or Dartmouth, or other schools like them will occasionally make misguided or idiotic mistakes or we can believe that we need to hold officials at these schools to a higher standard despite the fact that they are, after all, only human.
Admissions staff are supposed to select the best of the best for Ivy League schools. The admissions process is part of why Ivy League schools are considered elite. We can take the lapse of Princeton admission's ethics either as a sign that our moral standards are too high because we expect too much, or that they are not high enough.
