College Secures VIPs' Records

Harvard College has a longstanding policy of specially securing the undergraduate records of alumni who achieve national prominence in order to prevent leaks, University officials confirmed this week.

Normally, the collegiate academic records of alumni are kept sealed for a period of 80 years in the Pusey Library archives where approximately "half a dozen" members of the staff "might potentially have access" to the records, according to Kathleen A. Markees, curatorial associate of the archives.

But, according to Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, he occasionally places in a safe the records of alumni who are the subject of "excessive curiosity." The records are "kept in a separate place so they can't be called up by the archive staff routinely," said Jewett. Thus far, the Dean has twice handled academic files in this manner.

The delicate nature of academic records has been underscored this week by the demise of the presidential campaign of Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-Del.), when it was learned that he had committed plagiarism in law school.

Jewett declined to give the names of alumni whose files are protected, adding that the procedure is usually followed for "anyone who gets into national politics." He said the policy was not prompted by any past breach of confidentiality.

One alumnus, Sen. Albert Gore, Jr. '69 (D-Tenn.), is running for the presidency, but Jewett declined to say whether Gore's files were in the safe.

In interviews this week, members of the archive staff said that they were unaware of the policy of specially securing certain files to prevent leaks.

Since the dean can request files from the archives at any time, Markees said her staff may have given him files to be stored in the safe without knowing it.

It is unclear whether Harvard's policy of protecting certain undergraduate files is common practice. However, the chief archivist at Yale, said that they do not have such a policy.

"We would treat all records of all individuals in a similar fashion," said Katherine Morton, head of Yale's archives, which contains the academic records of the schools alumni.