U. continues as usual despite collusion probe

Exactly one year ago today, the University received a letter. And what a doozy it must have been. The letter - a request for documents from the the U.S. Justice Department - marked the inclusion of the University in an extensive federal probe of at least 50 elite colleges and universities for possible tuition and financial aid package price-fixing. Since its arrival last September, the letter and many of its kind have wreaked havoc on the lives of administrators, lawyers and mail carriers across the nation. The University completed submitting about 30,000 pages of documents to the Justice Department last spring. Although the Justice Department initially set a deadline of September 28, 1989 for submission of requested materials, colleges protested the date as unreasonably early. And the immense number of documents sent to the federal government's antitrust division has slowed the pace of the investigation, Justice Department Spokesperson Joe Krovisky said yesterday. He added that although probe officials originally hoped to complete reviewing the data this fall, they still need more time. He said he did not know when they would complete their review. Krovisky declined to specify exactly how many colleges are included in the probe or what initiated the investigation. General Counsel Shelley Green said yesterday that her office has not been contacted by the Justice Department since submitting the files. She added that the investigation has not prompted the University to change or revise its tuition or financial aid practices. "The University is obviously sensitive because the investigation is going on, but it hasn't radically altered any way the University operates," Green said.

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