Harvard Withholds Some Memos From Congress

Harvard University maintained the confidentiality of sealed presidential search documents last week, when it forwarded some—but not all—of the documents requested by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The committee has been investigating charges that former Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Richard Klausner exercised undue influence in the decision to give a $40 million contract to a Harvard laboratory. Klausner was under consideration for the Harvard presidency while the decision was being made.

Harvard Senior Director of Federal and State Relations Kevin Casey refused Thursday to comment specifically on which documents were released to the committee.

“We’re working to give [the Committee] documents without violating the confidentiality and integrity that goes along with a presidential search,” Casey said.

In a letter delivered to Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers on Nov. 8, the committee requested copies of communications between Harvard and NCI, records of Klausner’s multiple visits to Harvard and documents from Harvard’s Presidential Search Committee. But under University rules, search committee documents remain sealed for 80 years.

Casey said the Dec. 10 deadline specified by the letter is not “a hard all-or-nothing” rule.

“Questions are answered as [the inquiry] goes forward,” he said.

A committee staff official confirmed that the deadline is just a target date.

“All requested documents are expected to be produced over the next few days,” he said Thursday.

Even though Casey would not specify which of the documents have been sent, he hoped the initial mailing would satisfy the committee.

“It’s an evolving process,” Casey said. “It balances what the committee wants to learn and the University’s interest in trying to preserve the importance of a search. We’ll be looking for ways to satisfy the committee.”

The decision to hold interviews and hearings is usually made after reviewing all the requested documents, according to a committee staffer.

But Vice-President of Government, Community and Public Affairs Alan J. Stone said it could be years before the investigation heats up.

The University has retained the services of a Washington law firm, O’Melveny & Myers, to advise on the Committee investigation.

A wider investigation of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which oversees NCI, was opened Dec. 8 after the Los Angeles Times reported on the financial ties between scientists at the NIH and the pharmaceutical companies with which the NIH collaborates.

The newspaper’s report found millions of dollars in consulting fees and stock options were paid to NIH employees by pharmaceutical companies.

—Staff writer May Habib can be reached at habib@fas.harvard.edu.