HEW Investigators Leave Harvard After Officials Withhold Files

Representatives of the Department of Health. Education and Welfare (HEW) investigating Harvard's hiring policies cut short their inquiry and left Cambridge Tuesday when the University Personnel Office refused to open its files to the investigators.

HEW officials-who asked not to be named-said yesterday that they will send a letter to President Pusey by today asking that the tiles be opened. If the investigators do not gain access to the files, they will submit a report to their Department based on their present information, which they said is at least partially negative.

A negative report on Harvard's hiring-would hold up government contracts until a new hiring policy is implemented. Harvard receives about $65 million in federal government contracts, many of which are subject to reappoval this Spring.

Alleged Violation

The HEW representatives contend that Harvard has violated Executive Order 11246 of 1965, which requires that any institution receiving federal funds must prove that it does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. (A later Executive Order added sex as an illegal discriminatory basis). The Department of HEW is responsible for investigating these institutions.

The investigators at Harvard claim they found evidence of discrimination, particularly on the basis of sex, and had asked to see Harvard's personnel files to confirm or ref?le these findings. The Personnel Office denied them access to these files. John B. Butler. director of Personnel, said yesterday that the Department of HEW's contention that Harvard's refusal to show files is against Executive Order 11246 is "their opinion. We're complying as we see it," he said.

First Time

An official at HEW said yesterday that the investigators' request had definitely been "in line with the Executive Order." The official added that Harvard's refusal was "kind of rare," perhaps the first time a university has re-

fused investigators access to information.

Although Butler would not comment specifically on reasons for denying the files requested, he said, "Any records that I am responsible for are confidential." Charles P. Whitlock, assistant to the President for Civic and Governmental Relations, who has been working with the investigators, refused yesterday to comment on the situation.

HEW representatives have been at Harvard intermittently since the beginning of March on a routine once-yearly investigation of Harvard's policies toward minority groups. Last week, however, the Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of National Organization for Women (NOW) field a complaint with the Department of Labor about Harvard's female hiring practices. This complaint was given to three HEW representatives to investigate when they came to Harvard a week ago Wednesday.

After running their information on female employees through a computer, they found that the large majority of women employed by Harvard are in three job categories: secretaries. clerks, and laboratory research assistants. They also found a pattern of lower salaries for female employees. They then asked to see the files of the Personnel Office, which the University officials denied them.