"We are simply not prepared right now to answer the volume of questions that come through the office," Wrinn says.

Wrinn's appointment kicks off a series of changes. Through the News Office, Grogan plans to release more Harvard publications like the Harvard Guide. The two also plan to restructure the News Office and expand its staff and budget.

These changes should result in a change in Harvard's presentation strategy.

"We do a really good job of reacting to news that comes to us, but I think we could do an even better job of making advances to the media," Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 said in an interview last month.

Medicare

With the focus on Harvard local image, it was supposed to be an easy year for the Washington lobbying team.

The Higher Education Act had passed the year before and university officials predicted they could shift their focus back home, having secured federal support for student aid and research for the time being.

But, according to Rudenstine, a crisis presented itself.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 placed caps on Medicare spending--federal aid to hospitals--that had helped to pay for the expensive teaching mission of academic medical centers. The cutbacks in Medicare spending came at a particularly difficult time for American hospitals, as private insurers have moved to pay less and less of the per-patient cost of treatment over the last five years, instead ceding this job to less generous managed care programs.

Across the country, teaching hospitals were hit with unprecedented losses, and Harvard was no exception.

Harvard's teaching hospital, Brigham and Women's, for example, posted a $10 million deficit, while Mass. General Hospital lost $11.6 million in the first quarter of this fiscal year--last October through December.

"This year we'll muddle through," Rudenstine told The Crimson, "but within 12 to 24 months, we'll be looking at disaster....It is not an abstract concern."

With the quality of American medical education seemingly jeopardized, the University turned to Washington to fix the problem, lobbying hard to emphasize to lawmakers the urgency of the problem. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) came up with a solution, proposing a system that would tax health insurance premiums to create a trust fund for graduate medical education.

But the Cardin's proposal is not expected to pass, and for the time being, Harvard is far from out of the woods.