University Auditors and the UC General Counsel are investigating charges that two UCSB administrators’ phone calls were intercepted and are looking into possible privacy or security violations that may have occurred.

UCSB personnel responsible for campus phones informed Executive Vice Chancellor Ilene Nagel last spring that her telephone conversations had been intercepted. University Auditors began the inquiry after electronic violations were confirmed.

“My telephone was programmed such that other people can listen without my knowledge,” Nagel said. “To my knowledge, e-mails have never been involved.”

The personnel also found that acting Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel Stanley Awramik’s phone conversations had been intercepted.

The investigation will look into “who installed the eavesdropping capability that enabled certain people to listen to conversations without our knowledge or approval when it was installed, who authorized the installation, who had knowledge of it, who had access to any of the information,” according to a statement released by Nagel, with which Awramik concurred.

On Nov. 1, campus police seized the computers of fewer than six university employees including one at a private residence. Nagel consulted with the General Council and University Auditors before allowing police to seize the computers and examine them to see if they had been used in connection with the privacy violations.

The review, which will look into all the issues, should be completed in a few weeks, UC spokesperson Brad Hayward said.

“The audit staff is continuing to work expeditiously but the review is not quite complete,” he said. “Our staff is conducting a full and responsible review of this matter.”

Nagel oversees all academic matters including academic hiring, graduate and undergraduate academic programs and research awards and fellowships. Awramik, who works in the same office, is responsible for matters with academic personnel including promotion and tenure. Nagel did not know of anyone who objects to her current projects.

Nagel and other UCSB officials refused to comment on who would intercept their communications and why until the audit is completed.

“This is a serious matter, which I expect will be investigated thoroughly,” Chancellor Henry Yang said. “We will take appropriate steps as warranted by the investigative findings. Any further comment would be premature until the investigations are complete.”

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