“If you meet Norah, she’s very friendly, helpful and has a very genial personality,” the student wrote in the e-mail. “She has always gone out of her way to help social studies students with whatever they may need—everything from setting aside personal time to help them with thesis ideas and scheduling to answering any questions they may have.”

Associate Dean for Administrative Resources Geoffrey M. Peters would not comment on the University’s policy regarding privacy and free speech, and it remains unclear whether the public nature of the weblog has any bearing on Burch’s firing.

Burch said she does not plan to appeal the decision.

As of yesterday afternoon, Burch had deleted the contents of her blog, replacing the archives with a single entry: “Voyeurism is bad. Please go peep someplace else, Tom.”

—Staff writer Leon Neyfakh can be reached at neyfakh@fas.harvard.edu.