"They made a hugely positive impression," Riley says.

SSI guards already patrolled the Law School, the Medical School, the Business School, and the Barker Center. SSI supervisors were familiar with the routines of the University.

FAS gave House masters, who might have grown accustomed to a certain guard, the option of retaining a familiar face. According to University officials, only two houses--Lowell and Adams--opted to keep the old guards in the gray shirts. At Lowell, an old Harvard guard now wears an SSI uniform, and last week longtime Adams guard Dan Gibbons retired and will be replaced by an SSI guard.

Now, Harvard's proprietary force protects the Yard, Memorial Hall, the Science Center, William James Hall, and the Kennedy School of Government. They're mostly clustered around the Yard area to make management easier, officials said.

"It's easier to manage the guards when they're in the same place," Riley says.

The Future

The proprietary guard unit will officially remain in existence until 2001, when the newly signed contract expires.

But if Harvard guards quit or resign, University officials say they will be replaced with guards from SSI or another contracting agency. So the proprietary force can only get smaller.