"Now I can turn to the structure itself," he said. "We might turn to more consolidation under one umbrella--the simplification of the structure perhaps by retaining the factors that have worked so well."

The Negotiation Project conducted a diagnostic study of race relations at the College, the only one that has provided what Epps describes as "substantial" recommendations for next year.

The independent firms doing the study, Conflict Management Group and Conflict Management Inc., donated their time to the College to study race relations on campus.

Much of the Negotiation Project's study analyzes the problems in the way race relations issues are considered and handled on campus. And most of the suggestions are broad guidelines for the way in which students and faculty should deal with future race conflicts.

"A lot of it is sort of preparing-the-ground stuff," Epps says.

Epps also says he is pleased with the apparent easing of the Black-Jewish tensions that reached a climax last year when the Black Students Association door-dropped a flyer titled "On the Harvard Plantation," which charged the University with institutionalized racism.

And next year's orientation week has been revamped to better prepare incoming first-years to deal with Harvard's racial diversity.

However, as the AAA's recent letter indicates, ethnic and racial tensions have not disappeared.

Epps says he recognizes it's time to pare down the often ponderous race relations structures to deal efficiently with student group's complaints. "We hope to use the summer to continue planning," he said.

But, in September, Epps will most likely find himself performing a balancing act between student and administrative concerns as the structural unification process begins. And it promises to be as difficult a fight for the Race Czar as he has seen all year.

'People tend to think of these things like a television show that begins and ends in an hour. That is not the nature of race relations."

ARCHIE C. EPPS III DEAN OF STUDENTS & RACE CZA