SECRET C.I.A. RESEARCH ON CAMPUS: HARVARD REWEIGHS GUIDELINES OF 1970'S

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100020012-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 21, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP9O-008068000100020012-5
ARTICLE AP NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 21 February 1986
Secret ~C.I A. Research on C ampus:
Harvard Reweighs Guidelines of 1970's
avaUable, many, academks
By. COLIN CAMPBELL ~ + less oppose cooperation with an ag~,
Three times in recent months Her-'
vard UNversity's undergraduatenews-~
Paper, The CrimsoA, has reported that'
the Central IntevVi~tee Agency was tl
nancing c~fidendal research by Har-
vard protesaors. i
I
n al)1 the ?asss, the mast,
recent of whtc4; ww a,adel
public last west. the pro-
Awlysb lessors said the arrange-)
menu 'were pthva>~ and
did not wa~1w Halyard.
After each discloAUt,O. IiaNrevlst~, facts
emerged suggesting that the research
might actually haw ipwiwd Har-
vard's ladltciee and m1 t lheIetore
haw broken Harvard's ,which do,
not allow secret Government research'
on campus. So, after each disclosure,,
the Harvard admidstratien amrotmced~
that` it would invs#tigate whether they
university's facilities had been usN
and whether any Hiles had been
broken.
In two of the throe cases, at least one+
other tact also emerged: The pmtes-~
sons involved had earlier informed
their deans about the C.I.A. research,.
but until the articles appeared !n The:
Crimson the deans had evidently not in-
quiredfurther. Under the rules, faculty
members engaged in private outside
contracts are required to inform their
deans if the work imrolVes secret Gov-
ernment research. The putpdse of this
provision is to allow the deans to deter-
mine whether there may be a conflict
of interest for the university. i
Reasops for Concern
Such moves and non-moves by a:
large academic bureaucracy may
sound dull to outsiders, but at Harvard.
and many other universities these.
C.I.A. cases are being watched with un~
usual interest, for several reasons.
For one thing, many academics see a1
fundamental conflict between the acay
demic freedom to Inquire and expressi
views and the C.I.A.'s frequent interest)
in keeping its involvement a secret ands
in reserving the right to censor subsi-I
dazed research. I
Moreover, although C.I.A. research
on American campuses is financed bye
the branch that quietly analyzes intor~
oration, much of which is publicly
starred operations abroad. - +
Many colleges and universities, ip-!
chiding Harvard, took steps in the lot
1970's, after C.apgtessionsl
disclosed many secret C.I.A. activhti
op campu. to pas: rules that they
lieved would protect academic tree-!
door as.vvell as the legitimate interasts~
of governmeax-and the freedoms of
divhdual scholars. Bit the'events of
ip din detall~plainiy show that floss
Hiles are nol working or else arenot up-!
derstood.
C.I.A. Ald for 1Parley ~
I.aat October it was reported that al
campus conference on Islamic finds-
mentalism organized by Prot. Nadav!
Satrap was being supported by a grant.
of x,700 from the Central Intelligence
Agency. Professor Satrap, a member'
of the governmept department who is
also director at Harvard's Centett foe~
Middle F..astera Studies, told repor'ters'
he had taken the great in a personal cap
padty to help Ids osnter fiparxx the!
cwrrfereace.
It was later reported that the IpteW ~
g~x agency had given Professor Say
iron =107.430 to write a book ap Saud1 ~
Arabia that was later published by
Harvard Urilversity Press: The C.I.A.
contract that Professor Satrap had
slgaed restrained him from publicly
a hedgbrg fire agency's support
and also required him to clear air publi-
cations with the agency in advapcx.
Professor Satrap responded that he
had dope nothing irregular. He c~n-
tended tbatbook contract was a private
arrangement between him and the.
agency and did not involve Harvard.,
He sand that it therefore did not tall'
under Harvard's rules against secreR
research and, in spy event, that he bad
informed Harvard of the contract.
These two cases caused coneiderabla
controversy last fall. A. llsicltaeh
Spence, dean of the faculty otarts ate
sciences, announced that he would ire
vestigate, and last Dec. 30 the de'
issued a report.
Dean Spence riled alert Protesso
trap had erred innot diacioairrgthecon-..
terenae great because the conference;
had "clearly innrolved" Harvard's:
name and facilities. He said Harvard
should have taken its share o! the grant
and the agency's partichpatioa should
have been made public.
Aa for the boot contract, Dean
Spence found that Professor cilia
had "made some use of the to ties!
and personnel.. of Iarvard's Center toe
IYliddle Eastern Studies. This possible
hrstitutiaoal involvement a~ ~ the
C.I.A.'s right to cedor material before
publicathaa should both have been in-
vestigated by li"irvard, he said. l~n
Spence noted that Pcoteseor Satrap bad
Informed the dean of the tapilty about
the C.I.A. contrail but that the dean
had not informed Harvard's president+'
Derek C. Bok. as called for'in the presi-
dent's guidelines of 1977.
The preshdent'a guidelinbs of 1977 an
telatioas between Harvard and the na-
li~n'sintelligenceagencieswouldseem
to be basic to the university's dealings
with the C.I.A. Yet in every case of
a~t ~ w light ripest last tall.,
one or more members of the Harvard
community have apparently found the.
gwdelines inapplicable. The result has
beep controversy.
Pr+ovisisoa of GtddeBses
The 1977 guidelines stress that "insti-
tutional" reswtrh contracts, or con-
tracts involving Harvard's name and
facilities, are permitted between Har;
vard and the C.I.A. Such contracts?
however, must be as public as all other:
sponsored research and researcher's
must be tree to publish whatever they
choose to publish. Otherwise. in Har-
' yard's view, academic freedom and in-
tegrity might be jeopardized.
'.Individual" research contracts. in-
eluding those between the C.` AAbe on
private citizens who happen
the Harvard faculty. are also Permit-
led. These individual contracts may
also. Presumably, be secret and in-
volve prepublication censorship by the
C.I.A., for these prohibitions are not,
mentioned. The guidelines do state,
however, that the "individual should
report in writing the existence of such
an arrangement to the dean of his or
her faculty, who should then inform the
president of the university."
The guidelines were drawn up by a
committee that iricludedwA~ ~d h~
and Henry Rasm~sky,
dean of the faculty. Yet in May 1982,
when Professor Safran reported his
book contract to Dean Rosavsky, the
dean did not follow up, according to the
recent report by Dew Spence. And in
August 1885, whin Professor Safran se-
cured an individual grant try the
C.I.A. for a cgnterence op Islam. he did
not consult with a dean.
Approved For Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP9O-008068000100020012-5
 Approved For Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100020012-5
~d Case V Dbelosed
Last week atather case of C.I.A: fi-
nanced research was disclosed. and in
some ways it ~ simllar to the Batten
matter.
In 1964, Richard IC. Betts, a fellow at
the Brookings. Institution, a tbsearch
center in Washington, was a consultant
to the C.LA. He agreed to produce a re-
port for the agency an authodtadan
rulers and possible threats to Amer-
ican interests it they should die In of
lice. Atone point. Mr. Betts recalled In
' a recant telephone interview, he asked.
.the agency it he could hire a helper. ~
The agency replied that this was his
business. So Mr. Betts brought Prot.
Samuel P. Huntington into the project.
Professor Huntington. a totineT chair-
miin of the Harvard govH~~sn Cen-
partment, is director oft
ter for Internatia-al Affairs.
"I paid him by personal check" Mr.
Betts said, but he declined to say how
much money was involved.
Processor Huntington then hired a
Harvard graduate student, Robert
Beschel, to assist in the research. Mr.
Beschel said in an interview last week
' chat he was the only research assistant
on the project, that he did almost all the
research in Harvard's Lamont Li-
brary, and that he spent roughly 300
hours on the job. He said of his work on
the project, "It was done using univer=
sity facilities."
He was paid directly by Professor
Huntington and by Mr. Betts. Last Sep-
' tember, Mr. Betts became a visiting
professor of government at Harvard.
A version ot, the paper that resulted
has been published in this winter's
issue of International Security under
-the title "Dead Dictators and Rioting
Mobs." International Security is edited
and published by Harvard, and the cur.
rent issue states that "Dead Dictators
and Rioting Mobs" is copyrighted by
the president and fellows of Harvard
College. It does not mention any C.I.A.
support. Mr. Betts's contract with the
C.I.A. prohibited unauthorized mentioq
of the agency's involvement, and also
called for C.I.A. review of published
material.
Last fall, after the Safran case was
publicized, Professor Huntington told
Dean Spence about his indirect rinanc,
ing by the C.I.A. Professor Huntington
has since told reporters that he knew of
no Harvard guidelines that governed
such arrangements, and that he acted
properly.
Dean Spence has confirmed that Pro-
fessor Huntington mentioned the con-
tract to him. Dean Spence also said
that he had not been notified in writing.
and that he did not notity Mr. Bok. He
later said, "I plan to inquire into what
institutional involvement, if any, there
may be."
John Shattuck, Harvard's vice press-.
dent for government affairs, was asked
whether Harvard tried, after the Sao .
Iran case, to find out what other conri: -
dential arrangements the C.I.A. might
have with faculty membeta. The ques-
tion is taw being widely asked at Har-
vard. Mr. Shattuck replied, `.Harvard
as such did tat inquire into that, and I
do tat ktww how tna~- such arranger
manta the Harvard faculty might
have." '
In a development related to the Sa-
ftan case, a committee of seniaaf, pro- ,
fessors t+ecommaaded tD Dena Spence .
early last week that the university's
rules on sponsored res~t+ch and .
Prepublication censorship should be
clarified. amplified and Arttocced. Such ;
de~in com nman~ttu~ vigorously
Approved For Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100020012-5