Faculty and students are criticising Harvard University for secretly photographing about 2,000 students in 10 lecture halls last spring as part of a study on classroom attendance.
The experiment was disclosed at a faculty meeting on Tuesday. Harvard computer science professor Harry Lewis says he learned about the study from two colleagues and asked administrators about it during the meeting.
He tells The Boston Globe such studies should only be done with the consent of those being studied.
Harvard administrators say students and teachers were not notified because researchers did not want to introduce potential bias into the study. Vice Provost Peter Bol says he ordered the images destroyed.
President Drew Faust said she takes the matter seriously and will have it reviewed.
