Privacy Debate Returns To Harvard
Last year a privacy debate erupted at Harvard when it was revealed that the university had searched the email accounts of 16 junior faculty members. The debate prompted a major self-examination and promises by the administration to do better.
Today’s New York Times is reporting that the prickly topic is back. This time, the university has acknowledged that as part iof a study of attendance at lectures, it had used hidden cameras to photograph classes without telling the professors or the students.
While students and faculty members did not view the secret photography as serious as looking through people’s email, it struck them as out of bounds — or, at least, “a little creepy.” It also set off more argument about the limits of privacy expectations.
The Times reports Jerry R. Green, a professoir of economics and former university provost, as saying, “I wouldn’t call it spying, but I don’t think it’s a good thing.”
The Times continues:
Some students called the secret photography a violation of trust, while others shrugged it off because cameras are already ubiquitous, said Sietse Goffard, a junior who is vice president of the Harvard Undergraduate Council. “It’s a question I’m still really conflicted about,” he said.
The episode comes as the university is getting familiar with a new honor code that will go into effect next year. That code, Mr. Goffard said, “stresses the importance of transparency and community trust.”
Carolyn O’Connor, a first-year student, said she would be concerned if the pictures were made public. But “if it’s for academic reasons, I don’t have a problem with that,” she said.
Researchers at the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching set up the cameras to investigate professors’ complaints that many students skipped lectures, and that attendance dropped as a semester wore on. (The photos confirmed both points.) The researchers were concerned that letting professors or students know could skew the results.
They received clearance from Peter K. Bol, a vice provost, and took still images in the spring in 10 classes, which have not been identified, with a total of about 2,000 students. Administrators said that students were not tracked, that professors were not judged on the results, and that after attendance figures had been compiled, the pictures were destroyed.
Harvard’s respect for privacy is a touchy subject because of the email search of last year. When word broke of those searches, many professors were furious, arguing that although the university owned the email system, the professors had an expectation of privacy. In response, the administration adopted a policy on electronic privacy.
This time around, the photography has not drawn the same kind of reactions. “This should have been done better,” the Times quotes Wilfried Schmid, a mathematics professor, as saying. “This is not in the same league as the email searches. It’s more like a lack of courtesy.”
Vaughn E. James