My appeal does not question Harvard's commitment to academic excellence. I believe that Harvard should maintain its devotion to the highest ideals of scholarship and teaching.

Rather, my appeal challenges a process in which extreme secrecy is used to cover bias, conflict of interest, lack of competence and an utter absence of accountability.

Surprisingly, questions about the place of independence, judgment, integrity, confidentiality, competence and accountability in the life of the university are nowhere systematically addressed at Harvard University.

To be sure, Harvard's professional schools have incorporated into their curriculums required courses on professional ethics. Yet nowhere at Harvard--not even in the University-wide Program in Ethics and the Professions--does Harvard University take the initiative to examine the principles that underlie university self-governance and to explore the array of issues surrounding the ethics of academic life.

The time has come for Harvard to remedy this oversight.

Harvard is a precious resource and a unique institution. It should now do for itself and for higher education what it seeks to do for other communities and professions. In order to remain true to its mission, to govern itself wisely in a challenging and rapidly changing world, and to meet better its obligations to both students and faculty, Harvard should establish a center devoted to the study of university self-governance and the ethics of academic life.

The idea behind such a center has informed my appeal from the beginning: Harvard must be challenged and must challenge itself to practice the virtues and live up to the principles that it rightly professes. Peter Berkowitz is associate professor of government.