The Medical School finished celebrating its 200th year last week when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)announced that the University mismanaged $1.7 million in government money, which must be paid back. There has been "no fraud, no abuse, no misuse of federal funds. We basically, don't think we owe [the government] any money," said University Financial Vice President Thomas O'Brien.

But an HHS regional audit director said the University would often charge a certain expenditure to one grant, then charge it to another grant several months later without the proper documentation.

Harvard's grant management system, said the official, "needs significant improvement to provide appropriate accountability of federal funds."

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Kenneth Wilson '56, a Cornell University professor who has long been considered a favorite to win a Nobel Prize for his ground-breaking research, last week claimed honors as the first sole recipient in physics since 1971.

Wilson received the prestigious Nobel award for his theory in "phase transitions"--the critical points at which water turns into ice or steam.

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The Government Department hopes to appoint two tenured specialists in East Asian politics next year after long and frustrating searches, the chairman of the department said last week.

The department has been seeking a scholar in Japanese politics sporadically for about five years, and one in Chinese politics for a year.

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