“We have a deep commitment to the privacy of our students and the confidentiality of their records,” Summers said. He added that the University has an obligation to comply with the law. “If issues arise we will find a balance,” he added.

Yale University President Richard C. Levin told the Yale Daily News that certain classes of requests raise serious issues of jurisdiction. Levin said that in some cases Yale would not turn over the records without a court ruling requiring them to.

Summers refused to outline situations in which the University would fight a subpoena in court, or speculate whether Harvard would serve as a party to a test case.

“Its much too hard to speculate about possible hypotheticals,” Summers said. When the issue comes up “we’ll try to do what’s right.”

Though he talked at length about issues regarding patriotism, Summers also answered questions on his plans for undergraduate education and the University as a whole.

On the College, Summers once again stressed the need for a close look—to begin in the immediate future—at issues including study abroad, curricular flexibility, and student-faculty contact.