Harvard administrators said this week thatneither student was expelled permanently becausethe College does not like to seal off thepossibility that once-disciplined students couldreturn to be students in good standing.

"I think the Board does think about dismissalversus expulsion the way others think aboutcapital punishment," Lewis wrote in an e-mailmessage. "As unlikely as it is that newinformation could come to light years later thatwould change the way a case is viewed, the Boardand the Faculty have chosen not to excludeabsolutely the possibility that it would want toreverse itself later on."

Avery said the Ad Board does not have theresources to investigate a case in the same depthas a court of law.

"The Ad Board does not have the evidence in thecourt," Avery said. "That's why sometimes goingthrough the criminal [system] just can be a veryeffective means of handling it."

Although Fox, who as dean of the College in the1970s once presided over the Ad Board, said hewould not comment on either case specifically, hesaid often the Ad Board may determine that incases of rape allegations, "The young man made anerror, but it wasn't a calculated error."

He said that, in situations of alleged rape,often "There was also an element ofmiscommunication [between the individualsinvolved]."

Still speaking generally about maleundergraduates involved in such allegations, foxsaid there was the possibility that "this is aperfectly decent young man and he should graduatesome day."

But the women said they would fear for theirlives if the men they charged with rape returnedto campus.

"He's a convicted felon," the woman raped byElster said in the interview with Perspective. "Ifear for my safety if he's back in the Bostonarea, and I can't understand why they want aconvicted felon to call himself a Harvard student,which he is still able to do."

Beyond failing in the eyes of the two victimsin its punitive responsibilities, the College,according to both women, made little effort tocounsel or comfort them after they were assaulted.

"The administration could have checked in withme to see how my semester was going I was reallyhurt and disappointed since I received no realsign that they cared what happened to me or wereconcerned for my well-being," the women who wasraped by Elster told The Crimson. "A simple e-mailwould have meant the world to me."

In the interview with Perspective the womanraped by Elster said she could not find adequatecounseling on Harvard's campus and had to seekhelp else where.

"I was contacted by members of theadministration but nothing was followed throughon," she told Perspective. "I think that they wereworking under the assumption that if I wanted helpI would come to them That's fallacious assumptionbecause I had post- traumatic stress syndrome."

In the Perspective interview, she said Harvardcould have done "everything" better to help her.

Avery said she does not repeatedly contactvictims because she wants to leave the control intheir hands.