Crossposted from The Wired Campus

Where a top administrator seems to endorse a presidential candidate in an e-mail message to students and then denies having sent that message, suspicions of hacking follow.

Elizabeth City State University, in North Carolina, is investigating “the possibility of an unauthorized use” of its e-mail account for Jean M. Sims, vice chancellor of human resources and payroll, according to a written statement from the chancellor, Willie J. Gilchrist.

The Daily Advance, a local newspaper, reported that a message appeared to have been sent from Ms. Sims’s account on September 16 urging students to support Sen. Barack Obama for president. “If you can’t register two voters, talk to two people who may be on the fence, or a McCain supporter, and sway them to become an Obama supporter,” the Advance quotes the e-mail message as saying. “Barack the vote!”

Ms. Sims has denied sending the message.

“Elizabeth City State University does not endorse any particular candidate running for public office,” said the chancellor. “There was no official effort sponsored by the university to promote a candidate.”

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted a similar investigation last month when someone sent an e-mail message criticizing fraternities and sororities to every account at the institution. The message appeared to have come from the university’s chancellor.