While Eric Holder refuses to resign and Obama refuses to fire him, another leading citizen appears to be moving toward a resignation after her own controversial leak investigation scandal. Harvard Dean Evelynn Hammands is leaving her post as undergraduate dean in the wake of a controversy over her ordering the searches of the emails of junior faculty to determine who spoke with the media on a recent cheating scandal. In my view, it was an outrageous act that contravened both academic and privacy principles.
She will step down in July but will then lead a new program on race and gender in medicine and science. She has denied that the scandal was any influence in her decision to resign.
Hammands investigation sounded strikingly similar to the defenses of the Administration in the interception of emails and the investigation of leakers. The scandal began as a response to another scandal. It was disclosed that 100 students were suspected of cheating on a take-home exam and dozens were forced to take a leave from the college. Hammands ordered the search of 16 resident deans who live in the student houses and serve as student advisers. They were not given notice of the interceptions, though Hammonds and Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, later insisted that they only spied on the email subject lines were examined, not their contents. It is hardly a defense. They violated the privacy of faculty and discarded any notion of due process and confidentiality.
The resignation was overdue, even with the denial of any pressure to resign. The question is whether Harvard will now just let this matter drop instead of taking any disciplinary action for the leak investigation.
Ralph Adamo:
I have listened for years to allegations that Harvard is some sort of leftist paradise. Almost inevitably, the criticisms come from people who have no connection to the place, don’t know anybody who does and rely on anecdotes from other critics operating under the same infirmities. Your comment is a good example.
It’s Harvard, she’s black, it’s the Obama DOJ method: reward for wrongdoing.
Ok, now how do you cheat on a take home exam….. That sounds kinda crazy…..
Nal,
Good take on this… Guess you might have an inside story here……
Blouise,
You rase an interesting question on privacy….. I’d suspect that because Harvard is a private school, they would not be an extension of the police and if hey discovered a crime….. They could report it….. But, I’m sure that Harvard could be sued for invasion of privacy….
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If the emails were on some sort of inter-office “business use only” setup then perhaps the Boss had a right to go look at email subject matter headings. The counter poise to that is for the employees not to use the darn thing. It is a thing of the past. If a student is being scrutinzied, not an employee, then that is a dog of a different breed.
If George “Oilwell” Bush was entitled to a degree from Harvard. then why not then surely Ms. Hammands is entitled to a nice sinecure.
Susan Cook: All the dogs on the blog were humans in a prior incarnation and the Dogalogue Machine is a way to put in their two cents worth on the important topics of the legal day–like this wayword Harvard nanny.
Susan Cook: Dogs dont like privacy thiefs. There is one dog named Susan who has been waiting in line at the Dogalogue Machine for days. DogBiscuitGuy did not let her on because she is new to the pac and is more complaining than itchinBayDog and she wont eat cooked food.
Harvard is a Leftist’s dream-come-true. Leftists can only hope that Dean Evelynn Hammands will be well taken care of by her Leftist Masters at Harvard. Certainly she will be welcomed by the Obama administration, perhaps as part of media investigations and wiretaps or IRS bully tactics against those opposed to Leftist policies. Don’t whine, Leftists…..CELEBRATE!
Here’s a video that captures your dream scenario:
What happens if, during the course of their search, Hammond and Smith happen upon a real crime … like dealing drugs … now there’s a conundrum.
Who says there is no honor among leak-crazy officials.
Are you listening Holder et. alia?
Why would any higher-up authorize IT to give the dean access to jr faculty WORK email? I imagine that the Harvard president OR the IT chief made the call upon request of the dean and her accomplice. No one (even two deans) should have had access to those emails on demand.
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The other argument is this: they were work email accounts and as jmquinn said above there is no expectation of privacy from an employer’s prying eyes.
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Also why are there so many xxxdog commenters on this site?
http://federal-circuits.vlex.com/vid/usa-v-david-szymuszkiewicz-219685422
Email scandal. Initially I didn’t think he was guilty but he was. I made the mistake of asking him who his attorney was. Won’t give you the exact name, but the email address is GRGBLAW.COM. Do you think they should have told him he didn’t have a chance?
Is justice blind? In my case it was and I can prove it.
Slap on the wrist. What Nal said!
She is not really resigning. She is moving on to another post. I see no punishment or even concern that she did the wrong thing or that she should have said no. Her new program deals with race and gender in medicine. These areas require moral courage to stand up for the voiceless; the former dean has shown no inclination to do that. It is another bad fit and another example of do the wrong thing, keep your mouth shut and you will get rewarded.
I’m confused? Were these work email accounts? Does anyone have a “right to privacy” in the work place? No one should use their work email for private communications with any expectation that it would remain private.
How would you like to go to a law firm in order to pursue a civil rights case against some privacy theif employer and the lawyer you are assigned to talk to is a Harvard Law Grad, class of 2013? Hey kid, what did you guys do in law school about the university invaded your privacy?
No BarkinDog its not that they are weenies or anything. They just are dumb and dumber about their rights. They went in dumb and are gonna come out dumb too.
Hey Harvard students: Occupy The Deans Office. Jeso, what a bunch of wimps. We need a military draft and a war in Vietnam to energize these schmucks.
The reason she’s coming back to Harvard: she got authorization from her superiors to search the e-mails and her return buys her silence.