Harvard University central administrators secretly searched the e-mail accounts of 16 resident deans last fall, looking for a leak to the media about the school’s sprawling cheating case, according to several Harvard officials interviewed by the Globe.
The resident deans sit on Harvard’s Administrative Board, the committee charged with handling the cheating case. They were not warned that administrators planned to access their accounts, and only one was told of the search shortly afterward.
Comments
Employer provided email belongs to the employer, not the employee. Didn't we cover this in, I don't know, 1998?
PL, you're missing the point. Harvard faculty are employees, but they are protected by a privacy policy that prevents Harvard from accessing their email. The question is whether this policy also covers resident deans who teach in the college.
True, PL, and I agree, but I don't think you read the article.
If you are talking about how Harvard exploits residents deans by not granting them the same privileges and privacy as full faculty members, that's not news either.
None of them are too bright. Harvard people? Really?
It's not a "secret" search of e-mail, since the accounts, computers, software, etc... are owned by Harvard and I guarantee that when these employees were provided e-mail accounts, they signed acknowledgements stating that the accounts were not private. As such, they had no reasonable expectations of privacy.
The profs are most afraid that their seditious and anti-american rants might see the light of day....
Like anyone doing such a thing would use their work e-mail? I mean, seriously, it doesn't take a genius to set up harvardisfullofcrap@ yahoo or hotmail or even AOL.
It's outrageous to think this secret police type behavior could be happening on a respected university campus! Is the Harvard University administration no different than the Catholic Church in their misguided attempt at damage control?This is shameful, embarassing behavior and should not be tolerated.
Wouldn’t it be better to fix the problem rather than the ”New England Way“ by fixing the Blame?