University officials last night refused to establish a time line for the appointment and job description of the proposed new Assistant Dean of the College for Public Service and Director of Phillips Brooks House (PBH).

Members of the PBH Association's Committee--a group of community leaders and alumni who advise the student association--met with University administrators to discuss suggested changes in the University's public service structure.

A committee of adminstrators and faculty recommended this summer to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles that the University combine its current two-part public services under one assistant dean, housing the new organization at PBH and establishing a Standing Committee on Public Service.

The proposals were a part of the Report on the Structure of Harvard College titled the Report on the Administration of Public Service Programs.

Currently Harvard's public service structure consists of PBH Association--a student-run, staff-supported organization--and the Office of Public Service, which is an office of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The Office's director, Gail L. Epstein, and the Executive Director of PBH, Greg A. Johnson '72, protested many of the recommendations in memos to the report's authors and University administrators this September. Epstein and Johnson said the report's recommendation to create a new assistant dean would mean the elimination of their positions.

At last night's meeting, administra- tors said they could not comment on specific staffing issues, but they confirmed after repeated questioning that a search would be necessary to appoint a new assistant dean.

McKay Professor of Computer Sciences Harry R. Lewis and Administrative Dean of the Arts and Sciences Nancy L. Maull--the report's authors--said they could not offer a details about the report's recommendations until after Knowles hears discussion of the report at a Faculty meeting on November 15.

"If you feel a bit frustrated by not having in hand a clearer declaration of what the implementations of the report's recommendations will be, that's understandable," Maull said. "We don't have such a plan nor should we until we hear from everybody concerned."

But PBHA board and association members said the University's delay regarding the report's recommendations may jeopardize funding for the public service organization's 52 summer programs.

Discussion of the recommendations was originally scheduled for a Faculty meeting last month, but was delayed while faculty members discussed changes to the University's benefits program.

Memo

PBHA President John B. King '95-'96, PBHA board member Eric P. Dawson '96 and Central House and Neighborhood Development (HAND) Coordinators Jenna B. McNeill '95 and Kelly T. Yee '95 addressed their concerns about the report in a memo to Knowles, Jewett and Maull last Friday.

In the letter, the group of student leaders requested that the three deans clarify certain issues by last night's meeting.

The students said an October 21 meeting with the deans had lead them to believe that staff of the Office of Public Service and Phillips Brooks House would continue to serve their current constituents.

The students added that the deans had also told them the Standing Committee would not be given jurisdiction over programmatic matters, and that the University's current public service administrators would not lose their posts.