Sarah B. Levit-Shore ’03, a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence, said that she supports any change that makes the Ad Board a less difficult process for victims of assault. However, she said she is worried that the Ad Board seems to be giving up on its power to discipline alleged assailants.

“In the silver lining it’s good that they’re recognizing that deans who often aren’t trained with dealing with sexual assault cases may not be the best place to bring a sexual assault case,” Levit-Shore said. “But it’s something that takes place on a college campus so it seems like a natural thing for the college disciplinary committee to deal with.”

In the past, the Ad Board has sometimes been overwhelmed by cases and found it difficult to staff the investigative subcommittees, according to Fithian.

Since the Ad Board will limit the number of sexual cases it considers, Fithian said he hopes the Ad Board will never be understaffed.

A note about the policy change will be placed in the 2002-2003 edition of “The Administrative Board of Harvard College: A Guide for Students.”

—Staff Writer Anne K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.