Gibson and her co-workers are not unionized and considering the degree of worker satisfaction in this office, she believes there "is no need to actively seek the kind of power" unions aim to provide. She personally feels "Harvard does well in the way it treats employees. The plusses of working in a place like this far outweigh the disadvantages." Gibson admits she has a narrow base from which to compare her own work situation to that of other Harvard employees, and says she feels "really far removed" from such workers as the carpenters who went on strike this march. "Our spheres of influence are totally separate. I don't know anything about their organization or structure," she says, nothing that her own office is "simply not a pressure cooker."

Of course, every job has its surprises: Gibson was one of the employees unable to enter her office when students protesting Harvard's investment in firms operating in South Africa closed University Hall in late April. It was an "eventful" week, Gibson recollects but it didn't stir up conflicts between the administrators in the office and their staff.

"Everyone was very aware of what was going on that week, wondering what was going to come of it. People might even have gotten a little carried away with their predictions and precautions," she says. UHall employees were phoned at home early that morning, and told to report to work in other buildings, where they conducted a more or less normal day's work. But the staff did not express their personal views on Harvard's investment policies, or on the students' actions. Most people "are pretty apolitical, within their work identities at least. Sentiments aren't voiced or acted on, which I suppose is kind of surprising. In a way I'm reluctant to say that--it doesn't make us look real good," she says.

There's not a whole lot of interaction between the staff assistants even on a purely social level, Gibson says. "Sometimes it'll happen that two or three of us will end up in the same place at the same time and kibitz for a few minutes but it's rare. It's not that it's a tense or intense kind of place but it just doesn't lend itself to that," she says. "One person to one office really sets the tone," Gibson adds. In this respect, Gibson's experience at Widener, where about ten people shared one large office, was markedly different.

But Gibson's work gives her more contact with students than with her fellow workers, and she has few complaints about this facet of the job. Sometimes undergraduates ask Epps or Gibson to serve as a go-between in protesting some aspect of a House policy that the student feels he or she can't attack alone. Sometimes they need financial help, or advice on a personal matter. Occasionally, Epps has summoned the student on a disciplinary matter. Epps is frequently the liaison between Harvard and Cambridge on legal issues affecting a student, whether it be a parking ticket scofflaw or an assault victim.

Epps is also the official who "keeps a passive eye on undergraduate organizations," Gibson says. She's been very impressed with the dynamism of the students involved in extracurricular activities and likes working with these groups--partially because they become familiar with how the office operates and therefore are less likely to pose problems for Gibson.

"There are days when I really feel this office is the hub of the College. There are always 50 people rushing in and out and it's easier when people have some idea of what's going on," she says.

Gibson doesn't recollect coming to Harvard with rigid preconceptions of what students here would be like, and after meeting a great many of them she doesn't feel that there is an archetypal Harvard student.

"It's really hard to generalize. I do honestly feel at times--and I know in some ways I've contributed to this--that students come in here and regard me as only a secretary, someone who doesn't have to be taken seriously. Their attitude is hard to handle because they tend to think, 'Only Dean Epps can handle my problem, I should obviously be sent right in to see him.' They don't realize that many times I can take care of them far more quickly," she says.

Student attitudes are generally a matter of personality, not of prevalent elitism, Gibson says, adding that she can usually type a student from his or her physical manner. "Some charge in, come right behind my desk--which I hate--or stand back in and peer down at me. Others timidly lean in the doorway and if I don't happen to be looking up, they just sort of hang there until I notice them."

Gibson isn't quite sure what type of career she'll eventually select. She usually likes dealing with the 50-odd students that trundle through her office each day but every once in a while she yearns for the peace of Widener's quiet corridors.