Privacy Invaded

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.--Three students at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt., Protested that their privacy was invaded when a campus security officer entered their rooms last month to retrieve copies of a confidential memorandum that had accidentally been sent to them.

The administration instructed the officer to contact the students involved and ask them to return the memo but did not authorize the room searches. Stephen Rockefeller, dean of the college, said yesterday. Calling the incident a mistake, Rockefeller added that the officer was "over-zealous and exercised bad judgment."

Rockefeller said administration decided to retrieve the memos to protect the privacy of one students named in the document but refused to disclose the nature of the case. The Dartmouth, Dartmouth's college newspaper, reported that the memo concerned a plagiarism cases.

The students are not pressing any charges against the college of the officer involved Rockefeller said.