VCU Student Appears to be Responsible for Online Hoax

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

Following an internal investigation, Virginia Commonwealth University officials have traced online postings that threatened a dog to a school computer. A VCU student appears to be responsible.

VCU officials earlier had said that the Internet postings did not appear to be those of a VCU student.  However, because of the serious nature of the postings, the university pursued an internal investigation to determine with certainty whether a student was involved.

The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told VCU it does not intend to pursue criminal charges for the postings on MySpace.com.  However, the student's actions appear to violate VCU's rules and procedures regarding the honor code and use of university computers. Officials said the case will be turned over to the university's judicial system, which could result in sanctions up to and including expulsion from VCU.

The student's name will not be disclosed because of federal privacy laws regarding the release of information about students enrolled in educational institutions.

The postings followed a Sept. 12 assignment to a VCU Adcenter Creative Thinking class that instructed students to make the professor's pug dog, Oscar, famous.  The written instructions clearly stated that "you cannot harm my dog in any way.  You cannot kill my dog.  And your idea cannot hinge upon either."

"The VCU Adcenter is very upset about this incident and will use 'Oscar' as an example of what not  to do for classes in the future," said Rick Boyko, Adcenter managing director.