Pagett says the task force was a "prudent measure" on the part of the administration, following the scandal in Russia.

The institute has continued to accept new projects that will last several years, in what is a sign of confidence in its own future.

Still, Fineberg says, "The world of international development has evolved from since HIID was started... There are really significant questions of whether the education is really best served in that form today."

The task force of four, headed by Associate Provost Dennis F. Thompson, has met five times, though it has not yet reached any conclusions about the Institute.

But while the task force is considering keeping HIID as an allied institution with its director working out of the provost's office, a number of radical proposals are on the table.

"HIID could be legally and financially independent as an institution," Thompson says.

Under such an arrangement, HIID would still have a special relationship to the University where students would have special access to its work, but its official ties to Harvard would be severed and it would probably moved off Harvard property.

The task force is also considering folding HIID into one of Harvard's schools or distributing its work among several of them.