In other words, the Ad Board lays out the law of this land.

And the Ad Board is privy to evidence gathered by HUPD and information a student tells a senior tutor in confidence--and in certain cases consults with Harvard's top attorneys in the General Counsel's office to decide a student's future at Harvard.

Although the Ad Board thus has a professional police department supplying it with private reports about students, the liberties guaranteed the accused in local, state and federal courts don't apply for Harvard students when they are facing the Ad Board.

Students can't have an attorney speak for them during their Ad Board hearing, they can't cross examine those who bring charges against them, and they aren't guaranteed that the witnesses they choose to speak for them will be called. In some cases, Lewis can ask a student to leave the College before the Ad Board has heard the individual's case.

Lines of Communication

The members of the Ad Board are almost all University administrators, including the associate and assistant deans of the College, the freshmen deans and the senior tutors from the 12 Houses. No students sit on the Board, and only two Faculty members serve on the Board in any given year.

HUPD and the Ad Board work hand-in-hand. Every time HUPD writes a report about a student--an incident report much like a standard police report--the Dean of Harvard College and either the Freshmen Dean's Office or the student's House office gets a copy.