Harvard apologises after secret email search

A cheating scandal at Harvard College just got bigger, and this time the focus is flipped: administrators, not students, are under fire, reports Dana Ford for CNN. The university has apologised for the way it handled a secret search of the email accounts of resident deans.

It conducted the search in an effort to find who leaked information about the scandal to the media last year. "While the specific document made public may be deemed by some as not particularly consequential, the disclosure of the document and nearly word-for-word disclosure of a confidential board conversation led to concerns that other information – especially student information we have a duty to protect as private – was at risk," said a statement from Deans Michael D Smith and Evelynn M Hammonds.

"Consequently, with the approval of the dean of FAS (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) and the University general counsel, and the support of the dean of Harvard College, a very narrow, careful, and precise subject-line search was conducted by the university's IT department," they added. The search identified a resident dean who had forwarded a confidential email.
Full report on the CNN site