“We learned recently through reports from students that the system email to a recommender requesting a recommendation, which included a link to a file with the recommendations the recommender had entered in the system, was cc’d to the student to keep the student up to date and, unfortunately, the cc included the same link,” OCS wrote on Feb. 22.
It was unclear from this letter whether students were able to access only recommendation letters written for themselves, or the ones written for other students as well.
Mount said OCS is now working with FAS IT and Symplicity—the company that designed the software—to “gather the data necessary to enable [OCS] to report as quickly as possible to faculty who have raised concerns”.
Harris declined to comment today in an email to the Crimson, adding that the administration will share a full report with the faculty after investigating the matter.
Representatives from Symplicity could not be reached for comment yesterday.
—Staff writer Heng Shao can be reached at shao@college.harvard.edu.