But unlike other dorms under renovation, officials cannot guarantee that all the renovation will be done by the time students move in to Canaday. Indeed, residents may have to deal with scaffolding in the fall.

"We discovered that we have to do a little more than we expected," Levitan says. "We would provide security around the building for students."

Canaday's renovation will be complete when it is repainted next summer. But when officials discuss Canaday, they admit that the renovation will not address all of Canaday's structural problems.

For example, Canaday's warped metal window frames will not be replaced, nor will double-glazed glass be installed.

"We're attempting to solve some of the most annoying problems--one, the smelly, mildewy bathrooms, two, the roof that leaks," Knuff says. "Some problems will remain because they're too expensive to solve at this time."

Adds Levitan, "There weren't sufficient funds to replace the windows."

Yet to Came

All those in charge of this summer's renovations say their projects will be completed in time for student arrival in September (or in Canaday's case, sufficiently completed for students to move in).

That's fortunate, because Harvard doesn't really have a backup plan if some major disaster occurs--29 Garden St. is not being kept as a safety net. If for some reason members of the Class of 1998 or 1999 are greeted with tents rather than dorm rooms, Harvard would probably draw national ridicule. Harvard has to get this summer's renovations done, as well as those slated for next summer--Massachusetts, Straus and Wigglesworth Halls.

Officials are aware of the time pressures, and those of money and the need for quality renovation. But for more than $60 million, Harvard expects its renovated buildings to hold together well.

All these factors led to the Project-Labor Agreement of 1992. Therein, Harvard promised to hire only union labor, who would be compensated with wages 10 percent under the going market rate for renovation work.

For the workers, caught in Massachusetts' construction market collapse, the agreement was acceptable. But while union members say they saw the agreement as a model for future contracts, a step in the road away from the lowest bid to the best workmanship, University officials view it as something to be expanded to fit some other selected projects.

When the fall of 1995 arrives, all 16 dorms will seem newer than they did a few years ago, but the tensions between Harvard and organized labor will remain. Unfortunately for Harvard, this is one problem that will not be done away with when all the scaffolding comes down and the dorms are complete.