Harvard University provided Sinedu Tadesse '96 with inadequate advising and medical support, Melanie Thernstrom '87 alleges in her new book about the 1995 Dunster House murder-suicide, Halfway Heaven, scheduled to hit bookstores Monday.

Thernstrom, a former English department faculty member and Adams House non-resident tutor, alleges that the University also attempted to whitewash the tragedy, and "to protect and promote its distinguished reputation at the cost of its own student body," according to an advance copy of the book obtained by The Crimson this week.

Tadesse stabbed and killed her sleeping roommate, Trang P.Ho '96, in their Dunster House suite on May 28, 1995, shortly before hanging herself in their bathroom.

"After the Dunster House deaths, the news office could have adopted the line that every institution has troubled students and Harvard is, alas, no exception, instead they chose to propagate the idea that the student didn't appear to have any troubles and the tragedy had, therefore, no explanation," Thernstrom says in the book, which is an expansion of an earlier article she published in the New Yorker last June.

Thernstrom further alleges that the University tightly controlled information and interviews through its news office to ensure this position went unchallenged.

Though early yesterday the University refused to comment on the book, it later issued a brief statement challenging Thernstrom's account.

"Ms. Thernstrom is a skilled storyteller; however, much of her version of the events surrounding this tragedy is at odds with the facts," said University spokesperson Alex Huppe.

Despite the stir Thernstrom's work has caused at Harvard, Thernstrom contends that the University is a secondary theme.

"It's mainly a story about mental illness...," she said in an interview last night. "I think it could have been set at any other college. It's not a book about Harvard. I don't think that's what's interesting about it."

In response to the University's counter-allegation, Thernstrom said "the book is all factually correct."

"I'm happy to answer questions the University has about specific parts of the book. I didn't put anything in the book I wasn't sure about," she said.

Thernstrom is planning a book tour and has tentatively scheduled a September reading in Boston.

The University's contention was only one in a series of confrontations between Thernstrom and Harvard. After the publication of her New Yorker piece, Dunster House Master Karel Liam accused Thernstrom of abusing her status as a Harvard insider to obtain information.

Numerous University officials--including Dunster House affiliates and Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles who did not return a fax--declined to comment, many citing the fact that they had not had a chance to read the book.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III was interviewed by Thernstrom on details of the tragedy as she conducted her research but said he had not heard her criticisms of the University at the time.

Addressing the allegation of "spin-control," Epps, who had also not yet been able to read the book, said he believes because of the "extraordinary amount of press attention during that period," Harvard was "handicapped because we follow strictly the rules of privacy and could not discuss certain student circumstances. It would be against federal law to do so."