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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Reports say Harvard University administrators secretly searched the emails of 16 deans last fall, looking for a leak to reporters about a case of cheating.

Citing school officials, The Boston Globe and The New York Times are reporting that the email accounts belonged to deans on a committee addressing the cheating. They were not warned about email access and only one was told of the search afterward.

Michael Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said in an email Sunday that if the committee's work were compromised, Harvard College would safeguard the integrity of the process.

Harvard spokesman Jeff Neal says Harvard does not routinely monitor emails for any reason.

Harvard issued academic sanctions last month against scores of students forced to withdraw in an exam cheating scandal.