Evelynn M. Hammonds, who will step down as Dean of the College on July 1, speaks about Wintersession programming at a reception in the Barker Center last September.

Alone behind a slender microphone, Evelynn M. Hammonds gazed somberly over the assembled members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Prepared script in hand, the Dean of Harvard College was about to tell the University’s most influential faculty that she had broken their rules in an effort to safeguard the confidentiality of her students.

Her audience already knew that she and other University officials had secretly probed the email accounts of the College’s resident deans. But in the Faculty Room in University Hall on the second day of April, they were to learn that she had conducted a second set of email searches—this time, illicitly.

The revelation lasted only a couple of minutes, but that was time enough to bring into focus the mindset that guided Hammonds through the most extensive academic integrity investigation in Harvard’s history. Admitting to damaging mistakes in the way she handled the searches—mistakes that some have suggested would ultimately cost her her deanship—Hammonds stood by her vision of the College as an institution meant to protect students as they learn and grow.

With Hammonds’s five-year tenure drawing to a close this summer, students and faculty say that this strong commitment to safeguarding her students was often impeded by unforeseen crises and administrative shortcomings. The dean who cared so much about protecting students, they say, could not get the job done.

THE REACTIONARY DEAN

Hammonds would not agree to be interviewed for this story, but one of her close advisors, College Dean for Administration D. E. Lorraine Sterritt, suggested in an email that the Dean of the College position is meant to be in part about caring for undergraduates.

The Dean of the College, she wrote, is “both the chief administrative officer of the College and the person who must enact the vision of the College,” charged with overseeing “the education and wellbeing of the undergraduate body.”

Observers say that Hammonds has embraced this mandate during her time as dean. But despite her efforts to protect and nurture students, they said, Hammonds was hindered from the start by events beyond her control and problems with her approach.

Hammonds arrived at University Hall in the summer of 2008, just months before the beginning of the financial crisis. From the start, she had to deal with widespread budget cuts and administrative restructuring across FAS.

As hot breakfast disappeared from the Houses, staff size shrank across the College, and one or more students died each school year, Hammonds was forced into a reactionary position from which she never really recovered, several former College affiliates said. Instead of laying out a proactive vision for what the College should be, they said, Hammonds was forced to protect and defend it.

“I think that just made it much harder for Dean Hammonds to focus on the big picture—where do we want the College to go? Instead she was focused on the small things—how do we address these things?” said Van C. Tran, a Lowell House tutor from 2005 to 2011.

Despite these circumstances, Hammonds did push through several efforts to care for undergraduates, including the implementation of Administrative Board reforms, the launch of winter break programming, and the expansion of campus social spaces.

But former Undergraduate Council President Senan Ebrahim ’12 said that Hammonds’s approach was often an obstacle in such initiatives. He said that while Hammonds was open and engaged when presented with student concerns, she had trouble proactively reaching out and following through.

“In my opinion, I honestly think she was 100 percent in the right place in her aims,” he said. “I only expected the best from her, because she really cared about the students, and I think she had a similar perspective in a way that was shockingly progressive from her position as dean. The problem was just in the delivery space.”