Privacy

Strict controls of student groups' financesmight not be necessary if Harvard publicized casesof financial wrongdoing, as is currently done atother colleges.

The University has a policy of not releasinginformation about disciplinary actions takenagainst individuals, Epps said.

"Officials of the College can never discuss theindividual circumstances of a student because ofthe Federal privacy laws," Epps said. Thedisclosure law, as Harvard interprets it,continues indefinitely.

Not only do College officials refuse to commenton disciplinary matters, they discourage studentsinvolved from talking about them.

Last year, members of the Kroks said thatAssistant Dean of Students Sarah E. Flatley toldthem not to talk about the allegations ofembezzlement.

And last month, the Yearbook source said thatFlatley had threatened staffers with legal actionif they publicly spoke about the alleged problemswith Chang and Shapiro.

Flatley said that she could not comment onindividual student groups, while Epps denied theallegation.

Epps said that members of the yearbook weretold that "no final decision had been made, and itwas probably best not to discuss things at thispoint."

The non-disclosure policy "is not to protectour liability," Epps said. "We want to protect theprivacy of a student, out of fairness."

But other colleges, such as Tufts andDartmouth, release information about disciplinaryactions after cases are closed.

"[Tufts] reports any disciplinary action to thecampus newspapers without mentioning any names,"said Marie Waller, secretary in the Tufts dean ofstudents office. "I just assumed they did it as amatter of being in touch and having people knowwhat's going on on campus."

And Marcia J. Kelly, Dartmouth's undergraduatejudicial affairs officer, said that by printing anannual report with no names--just the violationsand the results--the college hopes to detersimilar offenses.

"We think it's important that the community asa whole has some sense of how the disciplinarysystem is working," Kelly said. "It is certainlypart of our hope that it provides some educationthat there are certain outcomes for certainactions on campus."

Student Responsibility