NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Richard C. Levin took over as president of Yale in the spring of 1993 amid widespread agreement that the nation's second oldest university was in serious disarray.

Rising crime rates in New Haven, coupled with a the widely publicized murder of a Yale undergraduate led applications to plunge 15 percent. Severe budget deficits were forcing the University to eliminate entire departments. And bitter disagreements between faculty and administrators prompted President Benno C. Schmidt to resign.

Serious problems remain today, Levin says, but overall the university is "back on track."

"We've managed in the last one-and-a-half years to renew and restore Yale's sense of self-confidence as an institution," Levin told The Crimson Wednesday.

"We are out of the woods," he said.

Levin noted that undergraduate applications this year were at their second highest level ever. He also said that the university's annual budget deficit--more than $20 million a few years ago--has been cut to $12.45 million.

The university is also in the midst of an ambitious campaign to renovate the area along Broadway and York St. that serves as the campus's main drag. When completed, Levin says, the area will be something like Harvard Square "on a smaller scale."

A few features of the Square have already made their appearance in New Haven. This fall, an Au Bon Pain replaced Demery's, a longtime pizza parlor and bar.

Workers are currently putting down new brick sidewalks and marking preparing to plant more than 80 elm trees--a tribute to New Haven's nickname, Elm City.

Levin said he expected the changes in the environment, combined with renovations of the Yale building would help to further repair the university's image.

"We were being perceived by new students as having our surrounding being a serious liability," said Levin. "One the educational side, things are in excellent shape, but the condition of our facilities is a serious problem."

Levin, 47, was an economics professor and department chair before taking over as president. He has lived in New Haven for more than 20 years.

Unlike his predecessor, Levin is popular with both the Yale faculty and the city's mayor, John DeStefano, according to students, administrators, and city officials.

But Levin has drawn fire from several city politicians in recent months, most notably over Yale's plans to renovate power stations that provide electricity to the university.

"The question is how sincere is the University in bettering New Haven for New Haven or for Yale," said Alderman Josh Civin, who is a Yale senior.

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