Harvard University's financial relationship with President Bush's former oil company was deeper than previously understood, with the university's management fund creating a separate ''off the books'' partnership with Harken Energy Corp. that helped keep afloat the financially troubled company, according to a report to be released today.

HarvardWatch, a student-alumni group that monitors the school's investments, plans to issue the report and say that it has analyzed documents showing that the Harvard fund, an independent entity that manages the university's endowment, formed a partnership in 1990 with Bush's oil firm called the Harken Anadarko Partnership. The partnership effectively removed $20 million of debt from Harken's books, relieving the Texas company's short-term financial problems.

About the same time, the Harvard fund invested about $30 million in Harken, which also helped keep the firm afloat. The partnership has not been mentioned in recent accounts of Bush's financial dealings in the oil business.

''Harvard had a dramatically larger financial stake and a much more interesting financial stake'' than was previously understood, said William K. Black, the former federal banking regulator who fought the previous Bush administration to expose the S&L scandal. ''It all serves as a partnership device to move money from Harvard to Harken. This is beyond nuts from an institutional investor's standpoint.''

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/282/business/Harvard_role_in_Harken_called_deeper+.shtml