Since June, Radcliffe has experienced fivehigh-level administrative departures, excludingWilson's. Stories about the institution'suncertain future had surfaced periodically innational media since last April.

In addition, Wilson claimed yesterday that shehas long wanted to take a breather from theRadcliffe presidency.

However, an announcement of her resignationbefore a public announcement of her college'splans would have made for clumsy public relations,raising questions about the progress of the talks.

But officials said the agreement came nowbecause the principals see the remaining detailsas just that-details.

"Why don't you dot every 'i' and cross every't'? Because that takes a long time and requiresinput from a lot of faculty colleagues," Knowlessaid.

Knowles added that he plans to spend severalmonths "working closely" with Dunn and anypermanent successor ironing out remainingquestions, minor and major.

Rudenstine insisted that the plan is all butworked out.

"[We decided that] as soon as we agreed on theactual terms, we'd announce it," he said. "Ifyou're going to do a merger there's a number oflegal steps you have to go through, but we didn'twant to wait until June 28 when nobody would behere."

But what might seem like mere "legal steps" toUniversity presidents and Boards of Trustees aremore significant to those on the ground.

"There are simply things we don't know," Marchsaid. "Like, as of when? Should this be reflectedin our stationery? Should this be on our Website?"

"Is the year of transition exactly that?" Marchadded. "That's a very basic question that we don'tknow the answer to yet.