This cooperation--between a police force and a private, disciplinary body--is matter for concern, say both Alan Kors, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvey Silverglate, a prominent Boston civil rights attorney. The two have co-authored a book about campus justice entitled The Shadow University.

"HUPD is empowered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but who pays them?" Silverglate says, referring to the University.

The problem, Kors says, is that no independent body evaluates evidence in a student's disciplinary case. They also point to the possibility of the General Counsel's involvement in Ad Board proceedings as creating an unfair environment.

"All administrative wings of the University have a fiduciary obligation to the [Harvard] Corporation," Kors says. "The office of the General Counsel has an absolute commitment to the Corporation, to its financial and legal interest."

Kors says that with Harvard's current system, there is nothing to stop General Counsel from intervening in an Ad Board process or deciding what evidence gathered by HUPD should be considered by the Ad Board. The University, he says, could be concerned about future lawsuits and try to shape the Ad Board process to prevent them.

Or, Silverglate says, the General Counsel could, hypothetically, ask the Board to pardon the son or daughter of a wealthy donor.

"What administrator has the right to say no to the Corporation's attorneys?" Kors says.