Harvard University administrators secretly searched the e-mail accounts of 16 resident deans in an effort to learn who leaked information about a student cheating scandal to the news media, two US newspapers reported Monday, AFP reported.

Last year's cheating scandal involved about 70 students, who were forced to take a leave from school for collaborating or plagiarizing on a final exam in a government class last year.

The scandal leaked into the media, damaging the reputation of the Ivy League school.

The Boston Globe and The New York Times said most of the deans had not been told that their accounts were searched until the past few days, after The Boston Globe began to inquire about them.