Harvard Dean Involved In Email Searches To Resign

CAMBRIDGE (AP) — Harvard's undergraduate dean will step down in July, months after she was criticized for approving secret searches of junior faculty members' emails.

The searches were authorized by Evelynn Hammonds in an effort to plug leaks related to a cheating scandal. In a statement Tuesday, the university said Hammonds will leave her current post July 1 and lead a new program on race and gender in medicine and science.

Hammonds told The New York Times that the email controversy was "not a motivating factor" in her decision to step down as dean.

Last summer, Harvard disclosed that over 100 students were suspected of cheating on a take-home exam. During the school investigation, The Harvard Crimson began reporting its supposedly confidential details. Hammonds later acknowledged she'd authorized the email searches looking for whoever was leaking the information.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.