Professor Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., chairman of the Government Department, regarded the decision to move his department to the Library site as a fait accompli. "Nobody is really enthusiastic about going--the location is bad because it is further from the Yard and Widener and there will be more tourists in the area, but we will abide by it."

Whether the stance is muttering or resigned, it is clear there is no significant faculty initiative for the move, despite the chance for centralization of these two departments.

Richard G. Leahy, associate dean for resources & planning, is the administrative head of the planning committee for the proposed Harvard building.

He says he is having problems coming up with a title for the center, rejecting the "Kennedy School of Government" label. "There will be large numbers from the Economics and Government Departments interested in non-U.S. problems, but it is not primarily an international area site," he said.

"There is no educational philosophical framework. It's a confluence of parts of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Kennedy School of Government--some economics, government, and political sciences with an international flavor."

At this time the building itself is not primarily a response to any present real or perceived academic needs of Harvard University but is important as a means for the University to get hold of an additional 2.2 acres of land.

"Having that much land is a possibility that we will never see again," Leahy says. "We were beginning to spread out too much, endangering our pedestrian oriented campus. The Kennedy site is a good location for us at the waist of the University."

By moving the economics and government departments to the river building Harvard would probably free Littauer for use by the Law School. Leady says the 1737 Cambridge St. building, cleared of most of the research center members, could be converted back to apartments for married students, providing additional revenue for the University.

If the Kennedy complex is blocked next fall by an unfavorable environmental impact statement, the University's right to purchase the designated 2.2 acres would be in question. Harvard has not purchased the land--as things now stand the land has been promised to the University by the Kennedy Corporation, which bought it from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Lawyers involved say it is too early to know if the 2.2 acres purchased by the Kennedy Corporation would remain valid if the environmental statement prevented construction of the complex on the rest of the site. And even if the Kennedy Corporation's claim to the 2.2 acres were upheld by a court, the Corporation might not be required to sell the land to Harvard.

Harvard will clearly get the property if the Kennedy Library is built, and this fact is crucial in understanding the Harvard administration's desire to see the Memorial built on the present Bennett St. MBTA site.