If Diane Patrick leaves the directorship of the Office of Human Resources for Washington D.C. later this year, she is likely to leave in disarray the office she helped resuscitate only 20 months ago.

Patrick said last week she will leave Harvard if her husband Deval Patrick is confirmed as assistant attorney for civil rights.

She added that she will delay her departure as long as possible so she can help her successor adjust to the job. But office insiders have said in recent interviews that news of Patrick's imminent departure has already hurt office morale and touched off a minor exodus from the sixth-floor of Holyoke Center.

Vice President for Administration Sally H. Zeckhauser, who oversees the office, told the Crimson last week that the office would undergo a stable leadership change without personnel loss. But interviews with human resources employees show that statement to be inaccurate.

Three of Patrick's top directors are leaving the office in the wake of Patrick's announcement. Director of Communications Carolyn Chamberlin, Associate Director of Retirement Programs Marianne L. Howard and Director of Benefits Administration Joan Bruce will all leave the office this spring.

Zeckhauser said there would be no major changes to the department, but that Bruce might "take a little bit of time off."

Bruce could not be reached for comment yesterday because she is on vacation until Thursday.

But calls to Howard's office last week revealed that her phone had been disconnected. And in a phone interview from her home yesterday, Howard confirmed that she had left Harvard Friday and will begin a job at MIT tomorrow.

Officials in the MIT personnel office confirmed Howard's appointment yesterday, but added that the issue was "not yet official but in negotiation."

Howard said her move was unrelated to Patrick's. Howard said she was motivated by an opportunity to become manager of benefits and pensions at MIT.

"My leaving had to do with a great opportunity at MIT," Howard said, "I think that Diane's family has a great opportunity."

Sources close to Chamberlin said she will leave the office on March 14 to become director of the office of communications at Radcliffe.

Anything But Stable

Sources in the office said relations are anything but stable. They said political infighting is threatening to reverse Patrick's efforts to build a cohesive staff.

Since her appointment in June of 1992, Patrick, a former University attorney, has earned the respect and admiration of some Harvard administrators and workers for bringing stability to an office that had seen six directors in six years.