Public service at Harvard: After more than a year and a half of battles, these words may well leave a bad taste in the mouths of many of those who have fought for control.

And like a bitter saccharine after taste, the disputes of last fall-centering on the appointment of a new dean of public service--may linger far after the reasons that inspired restructuring have been forgotten.

The struggle over public service has rebounded between administrators in University Hall and the student leaders of Phillips Brooks House(PBH).

But is ramifications have stretched much further--to the edges of Boston and Cambridge, in the communities where nearly 2,000 Harvard students volunteer, and to the borders of the nebulous boundaries between student power and administrative control.

"Basically, it's my feeling...that the current administrative structure is broken," Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) President-elect Andrew J. Ehrlich '96-'97 said last month, adding that only through a change in management would the organization regain partial autonomy.

"There has been a large degree of lack of trust, and that really negatively impacts the programs," he added.

With the entry on Jan. 2 of Judith H. Kidd as the new director of PBH and assistant dean of public service, student leaders have moved from staging demonstrations of anger, such as the Yard rally on Dec. 7, to planning major restructuring for the future.

And as Kidd gets her feet wet in her new job, the administration's goal seems to be turning the dialogue of public service on campus away from conflict and toward consensus.

"I think that we're in a period where I'd like to see some stabilization," Lewis said.

But the future of public service at Harvard seems far from clear. On June 30, Greg A. Johnson '72, former executive director of PBH and current executive director of Phillips Brooks House, Inc. (PBHA), Gail L. Epstein, director of public service programs at the Office of public service, and Ginny Read, staff assistant for the Office of Public Service (OPS), will be wiped off the Harvard payroll.

If PBHA's plans for a new board and the House and Neighborhood Development Program's (HAND's) request for a new staff member are any indication, the face of public service by then may be much changed.

Events of the Fall

When Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 appointed Kidd on November 7, members of PBHA were incensed but not surprised.

Such a restructuring had been in the works ever since Lewis, not yet dean at that time, had co-authored the Report on the Structure of Harvard College, which was released in September 1994.

According to administrators, Harvard's public service programs, including those in the Office of Public Service, were in dire need of restructuring in order to consolidate parallel programs and improve management practices.

Throughout the report's formation and after its release, PBHA members argued that their organization was not broken and did not need to be fixed.