Known for their activism, Cantabrigians haven't taken the expansion sitting down.

The current hot soft edge issue revolves around plans for the Knafel Center, Harvard's proposed 128,000-square-foot building for government and international studies near Gund Hall on Cambridge Street.

"Knafel is probably the biggest source of public tension," says Mary H. Power, Harvard's director of community relations for Cambridge. "It is emblematic of town-gown relations involving University planning."

The building, which is mostly funded by a $20 million donation to the University from Sidney R. Knafel '52, has undergone several rounds of planning, and is currently before the residents of Cambridge for their approval.

Many residents are concerned that the Knafel Center, which currently includes plans for a 150-seat lecture hall and a 140-seat cafe, will bring students too close to residential areas and change the atmosphere of the neighborhood.

"Some of us are nervous about campus activity this close to neighborhoods," says Elizabeth Kline, a member of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association (MCNA). "It's a question of whether we want the kind of traffic that is in front of the Science Center at noon every day near our homes."

MCNA President John R. Pitkin is also concerned about what effect the increased student population will have.

"It would be one of the densest parts of the campus right against the edge," Pitkin says. This is an extremely densely used area already. You can't imagine how many people are affected."