In response to The Crimson's Sept. 29, 2009 news article "Ex-Grad Student Alleges Misconduct," Letters to the Editor were submitted by John Y. Campbell, department chair of the Harvard economics department; David Gergen, a professor of public service at the Harvard Kennedy School; Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economics professor; and a group of 68 graduate students and recent alumni from the economics department's PhD programs.

A former graduate student’s mass e-mail to hundreds of College students alleging “administrative misconduct” at Harvard sparked heated debate over undergraduate e-mail lists Friday about discrimination on campus.

Former economics graduate student Wei Gu sent a nearly 2,500 word e-mail Friday morning that alleged that she had been the victim of “significant discrimination and misconducts” at the hands of professors and administrators at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the University.

Her e-mail in particular levied accusations of inappropriate conduct against Economics Professor Kenneth S. Rogoff, her adviser from 2005 to 2007.

“I rejected implicitly and politely his request to have a relationship more than student-faculty relationship in 2006,” Gu wrote in Friday’s e-mail. “There were also body languages and verbal harassment that I did not quite understand at that time.”

Rogoff declined to comment on the e-mail.

Gu said she was required to take an involuntary medical leave of absence on Aug. 9, 2007 and was required to withdraw from GSAS at the Aug. 31 Administrative Board meeting this year.

“I sent e-mails to students and professors because I had no other method to let people know what happened,” Gu said in a telephone interview from her Beijing home. “And I think students should work together to fight for their student rights.”

In response to an inquiry about Gu’s mass e-mail, a Harvard spokesman said that GSAS had already thoroughly considered Gu’s case and does not intend to reopen it.

“We emphasize that the GSAS and Harvard more broadly do not condone or tolerate harassment—physically, verbally, or electronically—of any member of our community,” Harvard spokesman Jeff Neal wrote in an e-mailed statement. “As is our policy, and consistent with privacy rules, we will not disclose the details of this former student’s case.”

Gu wrote that she believed professors “were aiming at the same goal to force me to leave US in summer 2007 and to withdraw me in 2009. I think it is because I decided to rely on my own research ability without compromising to the male dominated culture in the Economics Department.”

Following the reception of Gu’s e-mail, many house and club e-mail lists reacted with concerns about gender and racial discrimination on campus.

“The e-mail opens up a lot of room for misconceptions and misunderstandings, and judging from the confusion over the mailing lists, it already has,” said a recent Harvard alum who asked to remain anonymous to avoid compromising relationships with people in the economics department. “I really think that students should be cautious about jumping to conclusions.”

Gu’s e-mail also contained a link to her blog, where she posted what she identified as logs of her e-mail exchanges with various professors and administrators.

In one such exchange dated Nov. 3, 2006, Gu wrote to Rogoff, “I want to make sure that you know this. I am willing to be with you any time if it is not against my principles and integrity.”