Freshmen hungry for a Valentine's Day treat at the Union Dining Hall yesterday may have received more than they bargained for when they found a cheerful cow giving out free kisses at lunch and dinner.

The beneficent bovine at supper time, actually Union employee Penny Duggan in costume, joined other female dining service workers dressed since Monday as "milkmaids" to mark National Dairy Week, said Freshman Dining Hall Manager Katherine E. D'Andria.

Male employees apparently were not asked to wear special clothing.

The weeklong commemoration, part of the American Dairy Association-sponsored National Dairy Month, is an outgrowth of a national competition among college and university food services including Harvard, said Assistant Director for Dining Services Administration Dale M. Hennessey.

Hennessey said that members of the National Association of Colleges and University Food Services (NACUF)--who number in the hundreds--will submit photographs and written descriptions of their National Dairy Week activities. NACUF officials will select the most original and creative entry as the winner, D'Andria said.

It is unclear what the prize winners will receive.

At the Freshman Union last night. Duggan strolled down aisles between red-clothed dining tables handing out milk chocolate candies to freshmen willing to kiss her costumed head. The dark and wooden hall, usually echoing with the tumult of hundreds of feeding students, rang last night with the clamor of a cow bell Duggan shook in her hands.

Students, enjoying the annual Valentine's Day dinner, smiled as the brown and black-spotted bovine passed by and called out remarks--some more good-natured than others--as the employees strolled near.

"I don't think it's going to get anyone to drink milk," said Nick A. DelVecchio '92.

"The cow itself is amusing, but the bell is annoying," Brian D. Conrad '92.

But assistant director Hennessey said the week was as much for her employees as for students. "I think that whenever you can have fun at your job, it's wonderful," Hennessey said.

"We really put a lot of work into it," D'Andria said, "They really did participate in this with their whole heart and soul."

Union staff members reacted with enthusiasm when told of the week and offered many suggestions for activities, D'Andria said. In fact, one of the Union employees made all the blue- or pink-and-white bonnets being worn by the female staff this week, Hennessey said.

Not all the Union staff members are in favor of the entire program, however. Employee Fatima D. Pereira said that she is enjoying the Dairy Week activities, but said, "it's just the hats we don't enjoy."

Pereira said that some employees dislike having to wear the bonnets because of their silly appearance and because of some students' rude responses.

House dining halls will not participate in Dairy Week because of the difficulty of organizing activities, Hennessey said, and because the Union serves the most students daily.

Other Freshman activities included a fruit and dairy bar at breakfast Monday morning, a root beer float bar last night and National Dairy Week posters posted around the Union, D'Andria said.

For Duggan, who said she volunteered to don the cow costume because "it hides my face," she may have milked the role for all it was worth. She likes kissing people, she said. And, she added, "I have gotten a lot of marriage offers."