SEPTEMBER

8 - U.S. News & World Report ranks Harvard first among the nation's colleges, after an anomalous third-place ranking last year.

10 - A contentious three-year battle with the University ends as the trustees of the Phillips Brooks House Association vote to accept a compromise plan that will keep PBHA in the Yard and under the Harvard umbrella.

12 - The Barker Center, an airy, modern home for the humanities departments, is dedicated in the old Freshman Union building

17 - Carol A. Gilligan, a psychologist famous for her work on women's development, is named the first Patricia Albjerg Graham professor of gender studies at the Graduate School of Education. The appointment comes amid continuing disputes about the lack of tenured women professors at the University.

22 - An anti-Semitic poster is found on a kiosk behind Sever Hall, the third hate poster found within a week.

26 - Harvard's endowment, already the largest university endowment in the nation, swells to about $11 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent.

29 - Scott Krueger, a first-year at MIT, dies of alcohol poisoning after a drinking binge at a fraternity party. The death draws national attention, and MIT responds with a severe crackdown on underage drinking.

OCTOBER

1 - Jeffrey Curley, a 10-year-old Cambridge boy, disappears while washing his grandmother's dog. His body is dredged from a Maine river the next week and suspects are brought up on kidnapping and murder charges. His funeral attracts more than 1,500 mourners.

4 - The University celebrates the 25th anniversary of women's residency in the Yard with a ceremony and the dedication of a commemorative gate.

10 - Gay and lesbian students celebrate National Coming Out Day with posters and stickers. The following day, an anti-gay "Coming Out of Homosexuality" conference sponsored by the Law School's Society for Law, Life and Religion draws dozens of student protesters.

13 - More than 80 Native American students and supporters gather for a candlelight vigil protesting the celebration of Columbus Day.

14 - Robert C. Merton, Baker professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for a formula that allows accurate calculation of certain financial risks.

17 - Deshaun R. Hill '99 and Harvard C. Nabrit Stephens '99, who were killed in a car crash over the Fourth of July weekend, are remembered at a Memorial Church service.