Harvard Says No

Harvard and the State Department are at odds over a recent State Department request that universities reveal information to the government about Chinese students doing research in technology-related fields.

State Department spokesmen this week said they did not intend anything sinister by the request, which was sent to universities in the form of questionnaires about Chinese students' plans of study and their contacts within the institutions.

But Daniel Steiner '54 general counsel to the University, this week called the request "an interference into matters at the very heart of the academic enterprise." He added that Harvard will not respond.

"We're very troubled about the government inquiring into what people are going to be studying," Steiner said, adding that the requests "raise serious questions of principle as far as the University is concerned."

On hearing of Steiner's remarks, a State Department spokesman who asked not to be identified, said that there had been a misunderstanding over the questionnaires and that the department was working to clear up any ambiguity.

But the spokesman also said that "potentially, it's undeniable that restriction is implicit" in the department's information-seeking. And another department official on the China Desk called the request "a mistake, a routine thing that got carried out a little overzealously; if there's anyone who cares about expanding relations with China, it's this office."