* CURRIER HOUSE *

Drug Hearing for Blankenship, David Postponed One Week

A status hearing in Middlesex District Court yesterday for two former Currier House residents accused of several drug-related crimes was postponed because the attorney for one of the defendants had a scheduling conflict.

The defendants, William A. Blankenship '96 and Stephen V. David '96, were charged last April with two counts of possession with intent to distribute a class B controlled substance, one count of possessing a class C controlled substance, one count of possessing a class D controlled substance and two counts of drug violation in a school or park zone.

Gilbert Towers, the section of Currier House in which the two students lived last year, is within 1,000 feet of Peabody School, an elementary school.

Blankenship and David appeared in court yesterday, but their hearing was rescheduled for Thursday because David's attorney, Elliot Weinstein, had a trial elsewhere.

At a status hearing, held before a judge, a case can be rescheduled again if there are unresolved pre-trial matters, which can include motions or discovery issues. Defendants can also request a trial or settle at such hearings.

Blankenship and David each face a maximum sentence of two-and-a-half years in a house of corrections for each of the first two counts; one year for the third and fourth counts; and two-and-a-half years for the last two counts, Assistant District Attorney Kenneth E. Citron said yesterday.

The two had been arrested April 10, following a nearly two-month Harvard police investigation that utilized student informers and an undercover cop. Police say they found ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms and marijuana in Blankenship's and David's dorm rooms. --Ariel R. Frank

* UNIVERSITY *

Price Becomes Human Resources Vice-President

Longtime University official Mary C. "Polly" Price has been named associate vice president for human resources, according to University officials.

Price has worked at Harvard since 1985 and is currently serving as the associate dean for human resources in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

"I am very excited and thrilled to be named to the position," Price said in an interview last night.

She says her new position is different because it will allow her to work with the entire University and not just the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as she does now.