The private email server in question…  

Current Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account during his term as Governor of Indiana to conduct public business, discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues. Within these emails, there was information regarding the state’s response to international terrorist attacks, including an update relayed from Pence’s top state homeland security adviser about the detainment of numerous men on federal terrorism charges. Called into question, were the nature of these emails and whether the content within them was adequately protected from security breaches.

The difference between Hillary and Pence…

Perhaps the most-covered story during the latest presidential election campaign was Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account to conduct official State Department business. In response to Clinton’s actions, Pence published the following tweet; professing that an investigation lead by the FBI into the personal email server was appropriate, even commending the organization for doing so.

Following the reports of Pence’s private email server there was much outrage regarding his earlier statements and the similarities between both accounts. While there are commonalities between each, there are also distinct differences that should be noted. Both were used for work, vulnerable to hacking, and contained some degree of sensitive information. However as Governor, Pence fully complied with Indiana law regarding email use and retention. The private email account Pence used was allowed, whereas Clinton did not receive authorization while serving at the State Department. Clinton also used her server exclusively for work, something no other secretary of state has done before. There’s no evidence that the current Vice President used his account any more or less than past governors of Indiana. Further, most if not all of the information related to Homeland Security within Pence’s emails were reported to have been released to the media at the time.

Students of Dublin High School

Below are compiled quotes from students at Dublin High expressing their views on the situation:

“ I feel private email accounts should not be used by government officials, whether it is permitted or not by the state”

• Sophomore

“We must define the need for these servers and the extent to which they should be communicated with. We must also establish what content should be allowed and restricted on private email accounts and government emails.”

• Junior

Most students interviewed were unaware of the specifics of this issue. However, the majority of the student body at Dublin High who chose to comment on this topic, believed strongly that there should be clear guidelines set in place for government officials regarding private email servers. The general understanding and consensus being that this would make important federal and state information less vulnerable to hacking.