Vacation Watch--The Reporter's Notebook has taken great pride for the last few years in reporting the latest information on where Harvard's elite go for their holiday treats. And now, we are pleased to report news of the biggest vacation of them all...

President Derek C. Bok, whose future plans have been unknown since his decision to step down from the presidency this June, satisfied everyone's curiosity this week when he announced that he will go west, to spend next year at an academic think-tank affiliated with Stanford University.

The organization, called the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, is designed to provide an environment for scholars in the behavioral sciences and humanities to write or conduct research for nine to 12 months. Amenities at the Center include a volleyball net and a dartboard.

"It's very California. It has a very relaxed atmosphere that is very intellectually stimulating."

--Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53, who was a fellow at the center in 1963.

Calling Dr. Freud--When a Crimson reporter asked President Bok what building he would like named after him after he steps down from the presidency, Bok replied "I don't have an edifice complex."

"They're murderers. That's my tree. They can't cut that down. I believe it's a big plot, a conspiracy between a whole lot of people to cut that tree down. That's how much power the Lampoon has."

--Former Cambridge Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci, on the city's removal of the locust tree formerly located outside the Harvard Lampoon's One Freedom Square headquarters. The Lampoon president denied any association with the tree's demise. But the Cambridge arborist said members of the semi-secret society, which periodically publishes a humor magazine, contributed to the gradual deterioration of the former Mt. Auburn St. landmark by attacking it last year. Over 140 axe marks were found in the tree when it was felled, some of which were six inches deep.

"Those nice little gentlemen at the Lampoon took it upon themselves to put an axe to that tree."

--Cambridge City Arborist Jack R. Kelley

"We won't die for the price of gas, Uncle Sam go kiss my ass."

--Protesters against the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf. The activists, demonstrating in Harvard and Central Squares, performed three "die-ins," in which some members of the group dressed in "body bags" writhed on the ground in simulated agony while others counted down and made the sound of incoming shells.

"The [Office of Scientific Integrity] determined that there was no basis whatsoever for these allegations."

--Suzanne W. Hadley, deputy director of the National Institutes of Health's Office of Scientific Integrity. This week the NIH concluded a year-long investigation into a study by five School of Public Health professors, and cleared the professors of charges that they had falsified data in their study of air quality in six major cities.

"The I's a real hassle, and cabs are expensive. This should compete pretty well."

--Undergraduate Council Chair Evan B. Rauch '91-'92, on the council's proposal to charter a shuttle bus to Logan Airport to assist students in their homeward treks. The bus would pick up students from Johnston Gate every two hours from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on December 18 and 19.

"Oh, he's resorted to this, has he? He won't even come to the phone now. I don't know why I voted for him. We'll get him back for this."

--An irate but confused Massachusetts resident, who, in attempting to reach Governor-elect William F. Weld '66, actually reached the Stoughton hall residence of William C. Weld '94, who is a distant relative of the elder Weld, but unlike his namesake, is not involved in Massachusetts politics.