Search Letters to Students Sent to Wrong Addresses

A sizeable portion of a presidential search committee mailing was misaddressed and will likely end up in piles of lost student mail, according to some house residents.

The committee appointed to name a successor to President Derek C. Bok this week concluded its mailing of more than 200,000 letters to members of the Harvard community, soliciting their input about the presidential search. The letters were sent to all students, alumni, faculty and staff, explaining the committee's goals and inviting comment about the current state of the University.

But an administrative error in the mailing process misdirected some of the undergraduate letters to outdated house addresses, several students said.

Lowell House resident Jeremy C. Bates '90-'91 said he observed almost 50 of the letters in Lowell's piles of mail waiting for forwarding.

"This is a pretty tacky move, frankly," said Bates, who found his letter sent to the room he lived in last year. He said he thought the mistake may demonstrate that the committee does not place adequate weight on student opinion.

The search committee has already been criticized by student groups for what they see as a weak interest in student input.

But University spokesperson Peter Costa said yesterday that "the University made every attempt to get the most recent and most accurate addresses of the undergraduates." Costa said that, although he was aware of complications in determining the addresses, he had not learned of the resulting confusion.

Costa said he was unable to speculate about the scope of the mistake. But residents of most of the houses noticed that the mailing missed them at their current addresses.

Brian E. Walther '90-'91, who did not receive his letter, said the possible implications of the error worried him.

"It seems like a phenomenal screwup. It concerns me," he said. "I'm very pleased that they've asked students for their input...but if they're going to do that, they'd better take the responsibility of making sure the letters get to the right places."

Although the committee has already working with an intermediate list of candidates. University officials said there is still room to add additional names.