On the other hand, from the Gazette to Facebook and Twitter, HPAC uses a variety of methods to push positive stories.

In early 2012, a senior communications officer told The Crimson that HPAC had created a position exclusively for that purpose, which the officer said produces “huge dividends” in the form of coverage that paints the University in a flattering light. For example, in 2011, the person in that role circulated the story of Reserve Officers' Training Corps coming back to Harvard's campus after a 40-year absence, which garnered positive national coverage for Harvard.

But Classics professor Richard F. Thomas said he thinks it is important to show the outside world a balanced portrait of the University.

“Clearly in my view there's too much concern about the brand, and the protection of the brand,” Thomas said. “I think there are times when that is the case, when basically PR has sort of taken precedence over substance.”

Perhaps even worse, some say, a culture of image-consciousness may be quietly infiltrating the University's decisionmaking process.

“One doesn't have the sense that people are talking from a strong value system; one has the sense that everything is very carefully crafted,” Gardner said. “We feel that in the end, you don't have administrators who are dealing with an academic value system and deciding ultimately on the basis of that and not on what so-called experts tell them to do.”

—Staff writer Nicholas P. Fandos can be reached at nicholasfandos@college.harvard.edu.

Follow him on Twitter @npfandos.

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.

Follow him on Twitter @syweinstock.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: June 9, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the name of the division that was moved from Brattle Street to the Holyoke Center. In fact, a branch of the government and community affairs unit of the Office of Government, Community, and Public Affairs, not the entire OGCPA, was relocated to join another branch of the OGCPA, the Harvard News Office. The article also incorrectly stated the timeframe in which the move, as well as the renaming of the OGCPA as Harvard Public Affairs and Communications, took place. In fact, those shifts occurred in the 2010-2011 school year, not with Heenan's arrival in 2008. The graph accompanying the story also incorrectly pegged the creation of HPAC in 1998. In addition, the story incorrectly reported an inaccurate number of central communications employees over time due to erroneous information on the HPAC website. The story and the graph have been updated to reflect the number of full-time equivalent University employees who work for or service the central communications office outside of the government and community affairs unit.