Al Gore '69 is "upset" at being "passed over" this year as speaker at Harvard's commencement, according to a report by gossip columnist Jeannette Walls in "The Scoop" for the network MSNBC.

But sources from Harvard and a Gore spokeperson both say the charge is unfounded.

"I don't know anything about this," said Kiki Moore McLean, Gore's spokesperson, in an interview yesterday.

"I'm sure it isn't true because he was the Commencement speaker in 1994," said University Marshal Richard M. Hunt, who is charged with coordinating all VIP visits and helping to organize commencement. "It was a great occasion."

Hunt said he believed Gore would want to preserve June 7 for his daughter, Sarah Gore `01.

"If I know Al Gore--and I taught him when he was here--he has been a model of respect for the son or daughter that is graduating," said Hunt.

However, Walls' anonymous source--someone "close to Gore," according to Walls--claimed "[Gore's] really pretty bummed about [not speaking]."

Walls stands by her reporting and her source, she said on Wednesday.