WHEN KENNEDY SCHOOL LECTURER ROBERT B. REICH BECAME THE FIRST HARVARD PROFESSOR TO LEAVE FOR THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION. MORE NAMES WERE EXPECTED TO FOLLOW. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS HARVARD EMPLOYEES ARE RIDING A TIDAL WAVE OF APPOINTMENTS TO WASHINGTON--A SIGHT UNSEEN SINCE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY '40--LEAVING A VACUUM INSIDE THE IVORY TOWER. THIS WEEK, ONE OF HARVARD'S FIVE VICE PRESIDENTS, JOHN H. SHATTUCK, WAS NOMINATED TO A POST IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT, BRINGING THE UNOFFICIAL UNIVERSITY TALLY TO 11, AND RUMORS ARE CIRCULATING ABOUT YET MORE APPOINTMENTS.

This week's announcement that one of Harvard's top administrators is leaving for the Clinton administration didn't catch many people by surprise.

But the news of Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs John H. Shattuck's nomination as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor seemed to add a new level of urgency to an already serious problem: a massive exodus to Washington that has already drawn nine faculty members from across the University.

Democratic presidents have often relied on Harvard as a key source of experts and advisers. Not since the administration of President John F. Kennedy '40, however, has the Cambridge-Washington axis been so clearly defined.

Then, the busy corridor between Harvard Yard and the White House was a source of pride for the University.

"It felt like we were at the center of the world," said Marshall Ganz '64-'92, who returned to study at Harvard last year after more than a quarter-century hiatus.

That feeling is no less true today. Just ask President Neil L. Rudenstine.

"There's no question about it, we're very pleased that these people can go help out," Rudenstine said in an interview with The Crimson this week. "I congratulate all of them."

Still, the depletion of many of Harvard's best and brightest for the government has Rudenstine noticeably concerned.

"It is really a very substantial loss of excellent people," he said. "There'll be some real holes for a while. These are not people that you can just cover for in a very easy way all the time."

Several Kennedy School of Government professors have left for Washington, including the school's only tenured woman. The Economics Department has already lost three professors to Clinton and will likely lose more soon, and economics professors are worried.

Now, the departure of Shattuck highlights Harvard's dilemma, Rudenstine said. "Particularly in this case, because it's clearly going to be an intensive period in Washington, it's going to be hard to be able to manage as well without a vice president," he said.

"We have excellent people who will be able to serve and help us ... so it's not as if we lack for real quality backup. But if you lose your lead person, you've really got to work pretty hard to make up," Rudenstine said.

Shattuck, Harvard's chief representative to government and media, would have been a vocal advocate of the University's position on several key legislative packages dealing with research funding and financial aid that are making their way through Congress.

"It is a very great loss. He's just done an outstanding job," Rudenstine said. "He's been invaluable not just to Harvard but to higher education in many ways, and particularly last year with the Higher Education Reauthorization Act. His work on student aid was just exceptional."