( CNN ) -- A cheating scandal at Harvard College just got bigger , and this time the focus is flipped : Administrators , not students , are under fire . On Monday , the school apologized for the way it handled a secret search of the e-mail accounts of resident deans . It conducted the search in an effort to find who leaked information about the scandal to the media last year . `` While the specific document made public may be deemed by some as not particularly consequential , the disclosure of the document and nearly word-for-word disclosure of a confidential board conversation led to concerns that other information -- especially student information we have a duty to protect as private -- was at risk , '' said a statement from Deans Michael D. Smith and Evelynn M. Hammonds . `` Consequently , with the approval of the dean of FAS ( Faculty of Arts and Sciences ) and the University General Counsel , and the support of the dean of Harvard College , a very narrow , careful , and precise subject-line search was conducted by the University 's IT department , '' they added . Smith and Hammonds stressed that the search was limited to administrative accounts , and that it did not involve a review of e-mail content . Harvard students forced to withdraw amid cheating scandal . `` To be clear : No one 's e-mails were opened and the contents of no one 's e-mails were searched by human or machine , '' they said . The search successfully identified a resident dean , who had forwarded a confidential e-mail . However , after review , school officials determined the dean in question had committed `` an inadvertent error and not an intentional breach '' by sending the message to two students . Other resident deans were not told of the search , which was first reported by The Boston Globe . `` Operating without any clear precedent for the conflicting privacy concerns and knowing that no human had looked at any e-mails during or after the investigation , we made a decision that protected the privacy of the resident dean who had made an inadvertent error and allowed the student cases being handled by this resident dean to move forward expeditiously , '' Smith and Hammonds said . `` We understand that others may see the situation differently , and we apologize if any resident deans feel our communication at the conclusion of the investigation was insufficient , '' they added . News of the secret search drew immediate criticism from some members of Harvard 's faculty . Harry Lewis , a professor and former dean of Harvard College , said on his blog that he will likely move most of his personal e-mails to another account , keeping his Harvard address just for business . He described the way the school handled the case as dishonorable . `` Why not tell people you are reading their e-mail ? Would it not be the honorable thing to do ? What is to be gained by not doing that ? Other than avoiding , perhaps , the embarrassment of acknowledging that you are doing something to which the targets would reasonably object if they knew it , '' he wrote . Attempts to contact Harvard for details on Monday on the search and the handling of it were unsuccessful . Last month , the school announced that more than half the students implicated in the cheating scandal had been required to withdraw for a time . More than a hundred students were investigated for plagiarism or for having `` inappropriately collaborated '' on a course 's take-home , open-book spring final exam . The class was Government 1310 : Introduction to Congress , according to The Harvard Crimson , the school 's student newspaper . Many of those who were not forced to withdraw faced disciplinary probation at the Ivy League institution in Cambridge , Massachusetts , and the remaining were cleared . CNN 's Rande Iaboni contributed to this report .
Harvard searches the administrative accounts of resident deans . The university said it has not received any complaints about its search practices. News of the search draws immediate criticism from some members of Harvard 's faculty .