By Charles Pan ’18, Commentary Editor

Around the beginning of March, Hillary Rodham Clinton was thrust under the national spotlight once again for using a personal email instead of a government account during her time as secretary of state.

The State Department was unable to search Clinton’s email when collecting information about the Benghazi attack because she had exclusively used a private account for government affairs, which brought her under scrutiny for violating rules regarding email use, transparency, records management, and security.

Although there isn’t an explicit rule that prohibits officials from using personal emails, Clinton’s exclusive use of a personal email is a violation of rules of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which require federal agencies to preserve records that document the agency’s activity. Clinton, who is running for presidency in 2016, insisted that she had never emailed classified information and even allowed the State Department to release a selection of emails from her account to the public, saying “I complied with all the rules I was governed by.” However, suspicion aroused again when Clinton wiped her email server prior to saying that none of the emails deleted were work-related.

The Newark Academy community had mixed reactions to the scandal. Amogh Anakru ’17 commented, “I think it’s somewhat wrong that a personal email was used for official activities because it takes away from transparency. However, people are definitely making a bigger deal out of it than it actually is.” Mr. Bitler, a Newark Academy physics teacher and faculty advisor to the Young Republicans Club, also gave his take on the issue. “Top government agencies (such as the State Dept.) are supposed to keep records of all top officials’ official communications, especially with regard to classified material. Clinton set up her own private email server, thereby avoiding the government record-keeping and spying protection system. If she sent classified information over her own email system, she broke serious laws regarding government security.”

He also added, “Even more seriously, it is undoubted in my mind that her private e mail server was hacked – probably by the intelligence services of many countries – including those which are our enemies, which is a serious and felonious security breach. I believe the server should be seized by law authorities and the emails reconstituted (which they usually can be).”

There were also varied answers when asked whether this issue would affect Clinton’s campaign if she ran for presidency. “I don’t think this is a campaign-ending issue, but something that people will keep in mind when voting,” Rebecca Slater ’18 said. However, Matt Wei ’16 disagreed and commented, “If a candidate can’t be transparent about her actions as Secretary of State, and is hiding her communications from the government and the public, then many voters will view her as suspicious and untrustworthy as a President.”

Clinton has launched her campaign; the Newark Academy community will have to wait and see whether or not this scandal will take a toll on her bid for presidency.