Some UF students received an email from the Career Resource Center that was out of the norm Friday night.
The email raved about the prowess of a young singer, a UF alumna named Kimberly Percuoco, and urged students to check out her YouTube channel and her cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”
“The email was scheduled in the system by a former student employee prior to his departure and without the department’s knowledge,” said Heather White, director of the CRC, in an email sent two days later to students who are subscribed to Gator CareerLink help emails. “We are currently taking the necessary steps to address the student’s misconduct and to prevent any related issues from arising in the future.”
For Percuoco’s friend Lloyd Estes, who sent the email, these steps may include writing a formal apology to everyone who received the email and being evaluated by Student Affairs for breaking the UF Student Conduct and Honor Code, said Percuoco.
“My friend just wanted to help me out in any way he could,” said the 23-year-old. “I was trying to be happy, but I couldn’t support the behavior.”
However, Percuoco said her video went from a little more than 2,000 views to about 4,000 in the days after the email was sent, her Facebook page saw 200 more likes, and she received about 30 new friend requests.
“It was kind of a double-edged sword,” she said. “If it were in any other forum that would have been more appropriate, of course, I would have been ecstatic.”
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/24/2013 under the headline "CRC: Abnormal email about singer not OK"
