Issues like the Allston land grab and the Knafel Center are not going away anytime soon, as the Cambridge real estate market becomes tighter and tighter.

Plans to expand graduate student housing are one example of the University's continuing interaction with local government, an area where Harvard would like to avoid any future friction.

"There's a certain amount of tension that's always there," Fineberg says. "We have almost as much land in Boston as we do in Cambridge...Local relations really do matter a lot."

Keeping the Heat on Washington

While Harvard turns its attention to community relations and restructuring the News Office, University officials say they are not neglecting the Washington agenda, lobbying for Harvard's interests in national politics.

According to Grogan, with the political balance in Congress potentially on the verge of shifting, national politics could prove a very important concern for Harvard, particularly as Congress continues to discuss legislation that could significantly affect the University.

As the health care debate heats up, officials fear that changes to financing may cut down funding for medical schools and make it more difficult for "teaching hospitals"--like many operated with HMS--to break even.

"Harvard exists in a world where federal policy matters a great deal," Grogan says. "The country has failed hitherto to come to grips with the cost of medical school."

Harvard has 17 affiliated teaching hospitals. "Neil Rudenstine and [Dean of the Medical School Joseph B.] Martin are obviously deeply concerned about the health of the hospitals," Grogan says.

Fineberg says many administrators are "deeply worried" about the issue.

Rudenstine also remains committed to issues of diversity of education that Harvard has lobbied strongly for in Washington since the beginning of his term.

"It is one thing that this president has put at the top of his agenda," Fineberg says.