The President of the United States distributes power as he chooses (within the broad confines of the Cabinet system); he is able to set up new posts such as those President, Nixon created for Daniel P. Moynihan and Henry A. Kissinger, or he can retain the power for himself. The President of Harvard must have the same options, the second group insists.

Early Choice

Proponents of the second view are hopeful now that a President may be chosen within the next year. By next Spring, they hope, the President-designate could come to agreement with the restructuring committees as to how his office would be reshaped.

Pusey's resignation-several months earlier than most observers expected-may have been timed with this aspect of restructuring in mind. As one high University administrator said last night, Pusey must have felt "he was doing a great service to his successor" by giving him a chance to be looked over by a search committee before a new Administrative structure takes effect.

Some Faculty members who generally favor the idea of having a University Provost (and perhaps still another major officer to conduct fund-raising campaigns) feel that if the new President were acceptable in general-and to many this means an image closer to Kingman Brewster than to Nathan Pusey-it would not be necessary that the President's office be formally split.

So the University is likely to be at odds with itself during the next year over the closely-linked issues of restructuring and choosing a new President. One group will apparently fight to remake the office of the President and present restructuring to candidates as a fait accompli. Another group may try to put off the creation of new administrative posts until the new President can take part in the negotiations. Pusey's powerful voice will presumably side with the second group.

And everyone even remotely connected with Harvard will meanwhile be pushing for the kind of man he wants as the chief officer of the nation's oldest University.