And Verba himself says as much--after initialdisclaimers. When asked why deans have a habit ofturning to him in times of need, theself-deprecating Verba says, "I'm too stupid tosay 'no'. I don't really know. It's hard for me toanswer."

"I suppose I have a lot of patience," Verbacontinues: "[I'm] willing to listen to lots ofDepartment chair who has authored or co-authored18 books, primarily on group politicalparticipation and comparative government.

But while Verba is saddled with thoseconsensus-building duties, he also has been aprolific and much-decorated scholar in his yearsat Harvard. The Pforzheimer University professor,Verba is a former Government Department chair whohas authored and co-authored 18 books, primarilyon group political participation and comparativegovernment.

In recent years, the focus of his scholarshiphas increasingly shifted toward issues of socialand political equality in capitalist systems. Twoof the three books he has published since 1985have the word "equality" in the title, includingEquality in America: The View From the Top,which he co-authored in 1985.

Besides his interest in social and politicalequality, Verba says he manages to gainintellectual stimulation from his position aslibrary director.

"I like books. It's very interesting," saysVerba. "The information technology business isactually one of the most fascinating intellectualproblems around. It's kind of an interesting,partial-shifting of gears for me."

But Verba's many different faculty roles comeat a price, as far as some student activists areconcerned. They say that, because of Verba'sinsider status, he relied too much on the goodwillof faculty members in proposing affirmative actionguidelines.

And Verba, the student of the Harvardbureaucracy, cedes the point. "I said that wasabsolutely true, that there was no way in whichyou can really force people to do things in asystem such as ours," Verba says.

Verba, though, doesn't spend his timequestioning the Harvard system. He is too much apart of it.