Rudenstine Defends Staff's Actions

In an unusual public statement released last week, President Rudenstine defended the conduct of Divinity School technicians in the controversial case of former Divinity School Dean Ronald Thiemann, who was forced to resign his post after pornography was found on his office computer.

"At no time did any Harvard personnel violate Professor Thiemann's privacy," Rudenstine said in his statement. "The role of technology staff in this matter has been thoroughly reviewed at the most senior levels of the University, and it is very clear that there was nothing inappropriate or invasive about their actions."

University Spokesperson Joe Wrinn said Rudenstine took the unusual step of issuing the statement as a growing sector of the Harvard community--including Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz--suggested that Thiemann's privacy may have been violated.

"I think that he was observing a growing acceptance of a theory that was incorrect, that people at the divinity school had been violating people's rights," Wrinn said. "Having known that was not the case, he wanted to come out in defense of that."

In his statement, Rudenstine also said he wanted to make it clear that the rumors about whether Thiemann's privacy had been violated were untrue.

"Although the University's policy is not to discuss personnel matters publicly, in this instance I believe it is essential to do so only because of the way in which the actions of university staff members have been mis-characterized," Rudenstine said.

Despite Rudenstine's statement, Dershowitz said he questions whether or not University technicians invaded Thiemann's privacy.

"I am not in a controversy with Neil Rudenstine. I admire him, I think he's a sensitive civil libertarian," Dershowitz said. "My quarrel is with the fact that we don't know all the circumstances and we don't know what role the technicians played."

Dershowitz said he thinks it is difficult to establish boundaries to censor and prohibit Internet activity by faculty and students.

"What is a faculty member or student allowed to have on his computer?" he said, "What obligations do computer [technicians have]? If a student were to borrow 10 racist books or ten pornographic books from the library, would the librarian have a right to make that public if the librarian were offended?"

Dershowitz said he believes privacy rights should not be taken lightly, and said he thinks it is important to know all of the facts of the circumstances before passing judgement.

"The issue is, I think, more complex than suggested by the Rudenstine statement, but I'm not faulting Rudenstine. What I want is to have is a committee set up to make the guidelines for the future clear."

Dershowitz added that although obscenity is a difficult field to define, he finds it difficult to penalize Thiemann for the personal contents of his computer.

"It doesn't do to say there was a rule saying you can't use your computer for personal matters. If they had found Dean Thiemann's private stamp collection on the computer, they would not have asked him to step down," he said

"What is a faculty member or student allowed to have on his computer?" he said, "What obligations do computer [technicians have]? If a student were to borrow 10 racist books or ten pornographic books from the library, would the librarian have a right to make that public if the librarian were offended?"

Dershowitz said he believes privacy rights should not be taken lightly, and said he thinks it is important to know all of the facts of the circumstances before passing judgement.

"The issue is, I think, more complex than suggested by the Rudenstine statement, but I'm not faulting Rudenstine. What I want is to have is a committee set up to make the guidelines for the future clear."

Dershowitz added that although obscenity is a difficult field to define, he finds it difficult to penalize Thiemann for the personal contents of his computer.

"It doesn't do to say there was a rule saying you can't use your computer for personal matters. If they had found Dean Thiemann's private stamp collection on the computer, they would not have asked him to step down," he said