"I don't think [losing luster] is a problem,"adds Professor of Astronomy Robert P. Kirshner`70. "Harvard does not depend on keeping peopleignorant."

Despite an increasing awareness of theInternet among administrators, Harvard is notparticularly well-positioned for the future, manysay.

In fact, the administration has failed to givethe Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services(HASCS)--the Faculty's computing arm which servesprofessors and students--the amount of money andstaff necessary to maintain in the long term thesame level of service it provides now.

"I can probably be blamed for that," says LewisA. Law, the director of HASCS until he retired twoyears ago. "I probably should have built the staffand infrastructure more before [FAS] budgetproblems. But hindsight, you know, is 20-20."

Experts estimate that MIT, for example, is adecade ahead of Harvard in providing computer andnetwork resources. That university's "Athena"system is central to campus life, and mayrepresent a glimpse of Harvard's future. MITprofessors even distribute notes for their classesover it.

Use of the network has expanded at MIT becausethat university has made a significantly greatercommitment than Harvard to providing publiccomputing resources.

As opposed to the 285 computers available inthe Science Center and the houses, MIT makes 700workstations on its campus freely available.

"And we provide a central collection ofsoftware and other info resources from serversthat are not generally available at Harvard," saysGregory A. Jackson, director of academic computingat MIT.

Jackson says that while the future will bringdramatic changes, the Internet will linkuniversity communities but not fundamentallychange them.

"It's changing the general nature of theuniversity but not the specific nature," Jacksonsays. "It makes everything happen a little bitfaster and it breaks down some traditional statusbarriers, but the universities of today andtomorrow look remarkably like the universities ofyesterday except that people are doing things withnew tools."

Although students say Harvard has the resourcesto do better, the University is on par resourcesto do better, the University is on par with mostIvy League schools. Yale, like Harvard, is in theprocess of completing the wiring of its dorms forInternet access.

"We see the future network...as the waystudents will get everything done with theadministration here: how they get their grades,how they pay their bills, how they get theirassignments, how they register for courses," saysJoseph P. Paolillo, the associate director forcomputing and information systems at Yale.

Paolillo says students may be able to attendseminars electronically with the addition of fullmotion video over the network, but that could beyears off.

Dartmouth is further ahead. All students at theNew Hampshire school are required to have personalcomputers, and students there already use thenetwork to do everything from turning inassignments to ordering pizza.

But other Ivy League schools, like Harvard,have not yet focused much attention on the futureimplications of the network.