Crimson Files Suit To Get Documents

In an attempt to force the government to release documents relating to indirect research costs at Harvard Medical School, The Harvard Crimson filed a lawsuit yesterday against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Public Citizen Litigation Group, a non-profit public interest law group based in Washington D.C., filed on behalf of The Crimson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The six-page "complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief" filed yesterday begins by saying it is an action "to compel the defendant to make available all records in its possession relating to indirect costs for work performed for Harvard University for the federal government."

The suit comes amidst national media attention devoted to costs for overhead--such as utilities and depreciation related to research--included in the federal grants. A widely publicized government investigation of Stanford University found that a number of items were inappropriately billed as indirect costs.

Crimson reporters filed two requests for indirect cost documents under the federal Freedom of Information Act, and HHS did not respond adequately to either, Crimson President Rebecca L. Walkowitz '92 said yesterday.

According to Theresa A. Amato, as attorney for the Litigation Group, "the Freedom of Information act is designed to permit access to exactly the type of information The Harvard Crimson seeks."

"This lawsuit is designed to find out whether Harvard has been overcharging taxpayers and what the government has and has not been doing about it," Alan B. Morrison '66, director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, said in a statement.