When Harvard first decided more than a year ago to completely revamp its benefits system, the University almost certainly envisioned a logical, orderly process.

Ideally, a hand-picked committee would gather information, seek community input, and design a new program to keep down spiralling health care costs.

Like Hillary Clinton's health care task force, the process didn't quite work out that way.

First there was a bitter exchange of words between the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) and benefits task force leader Provost Jerry R. Green over the union's role in determining changes.

But after Green stepped down as head of the task force in March and resigned his job as provost in April, things really turned ugly.

Fellow task force member Sally Zeckhauser, vice president for administration, took Green's place, and the group's report, released in mid-June, stirred controversy.

HUCTW, citing the report's proposed cuts to part-time health benefits, immediately denounced it.

No one was surprised, since the union has a history of public disagreements with the University. But this time the protests didn't stop there.

At the Law School, a group of faculty members complained to the central administration and their dean.

Green himself wrote a memo to President Neil L. Rudenstine and Zeckhauser in June sharply criticizing the findings of the task force he headed for several months.

The final report of the task force is expected late this month or early next month, according to Candace R. Corvey, associate vice president for human resources. But that supposedly "final" copy will most likely serve to kick off another chapter in the long, tortured history of benefits review at Harvard.

Saving Millions

The proposed restructuring of benefits for Harvard's faculty and staff is expected to save about $10 million per year, according to administrators. When the process reaches a conclusion, major changes will involve at least some of the following.

*The amount Harvard contributes to health insurance premiums will be pegged to a percentage of the lowest-cost health plans available.

*The University will to some degree pro-rate benefits for part-time employees, pegging benefits to hours worked.