The committee included representatives from the School of Public Health, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Medical School, the Business School and the Kennedy School.

Last year and this spring. Abernathy and many other faculty members accused the administration of failing to consult the faculty on a decision to scale back benefits.

Rudenstine admitted last November that there were "flaws" in the benefits review and that the "degree of consultation was much less than it should have been."

"Now, of course, the claim is that they're supposed to give more attention to that in the future," Trumbull Professor of American History Donald H. Fleming said this week.

"You would think that they would at least communicate to the committee," added Fleming, who is not a committee member.

Who's Responsible?

After failing to consult with the committee, the administration did not relay its decision to committee members, faculty or even the president of the financial group responsible for managing the shares.

Green said he did not learn of the changes until Secretary of the Corporation Michael W. Roberts, alluded to them in a note dated September 28--nearly five months after the Corporation approved them.

And even Michael R. Eisenson, president of Harvard Private Capital Group, Inc. of the Harvard Management Company (HMC), said he was not aware of any Corporation action.

HMC is responsible for holding the shares, Brinton said, and the Private Capital Group is charged with managing holdings in private firms. Eisenson was also a member of Green's committee.

The Corporation did inform the Board of Overseers, the University's lesser governing board, according to John A. Armstrong '56, an overseer and a close adviser to the Science Policy Committee.

Administrators seemed to paint a contrasting picture about who was responsibile for informing the University community of the decision.

"I would say the president would be [the spokesperson], and he would figure out whether he would [articulate the policies]," said University Treasurer D. Ronald Daniel, a member of the Corporation. "All of that sort of lies within the management."

"It is his responsibility," said Charles P. Slichter '45, who retired from the Corporation over the summer after a 25-year tenure. "But in some instances, the president might want to prepare a statement, or the Corporation might want to."

Rudenstine and Carnesale shuffled the responsibility for informing the University between them.