The Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) leaked the email addresses of over 360 students in a mass email about its new arts student discount program.
The email — which was sent around 8 a.m. this morning — announced that students who had signed up for the AUS’s new Purple Card program could pick up their cards next week.
Under the BC Personal Information Protection Act, private organizations must get consent before releasing private information, like email addresses.
The AUS’s leak isn’t unprecedented. The AMS has accidentally released student emails three times over the past two years, and the Science Undergraduate Society did the same thing in an email about its Blue Card program — the inspiration for the AUS’s program — in 2020.
In an email sent around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, Jennifer Kim, the AUS sponsorship director, apologized to students for the leak and said it was “accidental.”
“We take full accountability, and we will ensure this does not happen again.”
Kim said that concerned students should email her at sponsorshipsdirector@aus.ubc.ca or AUS President Chelsea Bian at president@aus.ubc.ca.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, Bian said the AUS takes student privacy "very seriously" and also apologized for the leak.
Bian said that every "hired member" completes privacy training modules when going through the mandatory AUS's Canvas Training courses.
"The AMS has informed us they are working on an automated system that would avoid having to manually copy all the email addresses into the BCC line, which would prevent similar situations from happening in the future," she added.