College Dean Releases Ad Board Report

Dean of Harvard College Evelynn M. Hammonds released yesterday the official report of the Committee to Review the Administrative Board, which recommends a holistic reform of the College’s primary disciplinary body.

The 26-page report proposes increasing the involvement of students in disciplinary procedures, renaming and finetuning the role of the resident dean, and amending the faculty rules on academic dishonesty.

The report, which is divided into three sections, details recommendations that require different methods of approval. Some can be implemented unilaterally by Hammonds and the Ad Board, others require Faculty approval, and yet others have been marked for “further discussion.”

Much of the first section of the Committee’s recommendations have already been implemented, including altering the Resident Dean’s role in Ad Board proceedings and having students answer questions before a small subcommittee of the Ad Board instead of the much larger full board.

A unanimous vote of the Faculty in the fall gave the Faculty Council the power to expel students, overriding the previous rule of requiring the full vote of the Faculty.

After almost a year of keeping the report under wraps, the decision to release it marks a reversal by Hammonds. During the first Faculty meeting of this academic year, Hammonds announced that she would release the report, but then in an interview with The Crimson in October, she said that she had misspoken and did not plan on releasing the report.

Despite the decision to keep the report out of the public eye, many of the its recommendations were widely known before yesterday’s release. In June, The Crimson ran an article detailing many of the report’s recommendations.

“Having had sufficient time to study the report, to begin implementing some of the recommendations and to understand and begin charting next steps, I wanted to respond to requests from students and faculty that the draft report be released publicly,” Hammonds wrote in an e-mailed statement.

Reforms to how the College addresses academic plagiarism will be the next issue Hammonds puts before the Faculty, according to a message to the Harvard College community posted online yesterday.

The Ad Board Review Committee’s academic dishonesty recommendations are two-fold. The Committee suggests extensive revisions to the student handbook and an increase in the range of punishments available to the Ad Board.

Members of the Ad Board Review Committee, who participated in the year-long review process that resulted in the report, said that they were pleased to see the report made public.

“I’m delighted that it’s finally out,” said Donald H. Pfister, a systemic botany professor and a member of the Ad Board Review Committee.

Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, former Undergraduate Council president, said the report was meant to be holistic, so it was important that the entire document be released.

“I think it’s nice to have the whole report out there so that everyone can see that there are a number of different areas for things to be addressed within the board,” Sundquist said.

Former Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 first proposed that the College review the procedures of the Ad Board in the spring of 2007, and former Dean of the College David R. Pilbeam convened the small review committee in November 2007.

—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: March 15, 2010

An earlier verison of the Mar. 11 news article "College Dean Releases Ad Board Report" incorrectly stated the title of David R. Pilbeam as "Interim Dean of the College." In fact, he served as Interim Dean of FAS for a few months in 2007 but was soon thereafter appointed Dean of the College.