Tangled in the bureaucracy of FAS, change comes slowly to the College and its undergraduates--constituents not always at the top of University priorities. Ideas aimed at improving student life can get stalled in committees as University officials sort through the bigness that is Harvard--the agendas and interests of their graduate schools, institutes and academic centers.

"You make your case, write up a report and present it to the appropriate committee," Epps says. "Sometimes you have to wait, I worked on the Holden Chapel project for 19 years."

How a Bill Becomes a Law

In the University hierarchy, Harvard College is part of FAS, with FAS functioning as just another self-proclaimed "tub" among the University's nine graduate schools.

Dean of FAS Jeremy R. Knowles, has the ultimate say when it comes to deciding what major expenditures will happen at the College. Knowles officially depends on Harry R. Lewis '67, dean of the College, to keep him in touch with the interests of undergraduates.

Lewis in turn supervises three associate deans, David P. Illingworth '71, Georgene B. Herschbach, and Thomas A. Dingman '67. And along with Lewis, these three deans, as well as several assistant deans, are charged with listening to students and faculty tell them about the various needs of the College.

Most of these discussions take place in a committee-like setting. Illingworth is a member of the FAS classroom committee which Herschbach chairs; Dingman sits on the committee on House life.

Illingworth says he sees himself as representing College needs on the committee.