Lewis calls Hemenway a "wonderful space that would work for us," and says Hemenway would be a "great option for admissions and financial aid."

The Radcliffe Institute also tried to reassert itself in the Cronkhite Graduate Center, a large building owned by the Institute.

Almost 150 Harvard graduate students--unaffiliated with Radcliffe--live in the building, and loudly objected to the Institute's plans to convert 75 dorm rooms into office space for the Radcliffe fellows that will arrive in Cambridge this fall.

Radcliffe ultimately capitulated for a year--sending a case of champagne to the celebrating graduate students--but renovations will begin on Cronkhite next summer.

Community Objections

Despite Harvard's success in acquiring the Pudding, the University's most ambitious current development project--the Knafel Center for Government and International Studies--made little progress this year, as Harvard administrators confronted neighbors' disapproval at every step of the way.

The University hopes the Knafel Center will promote interaction between government professors and their counterparts at Harvard's many centers for international study, leaving the Littauer Center free for the Department of Economics.

But the site the University has proposed for the building is directly beside a residential neighborhood, and denizens complained the Knafel plans present a building that is "too institutional," "too big" and "inappropriate" for the neighborhood.

Now, facing the criticism of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation District Commission, a city board with the power to forbid construction, Harvard has completely redrawn its plans and faces many more months of negotiations in the neighborhood approval process.

Plans for a modern art museum on the current site of the Mahoney's Garden Center also blundered along this year, meeting with vocal disapproval from area residents when tentative plans were presented at a community meeting.

The Mahoney site is bordered by Memorial Drive, Acron Street, Banks Street and Western Avenue, and is thought to be the last swath of undeveloped Harvard land this side of the river.

Though the funding has not been secured to build the museum, famed architect Renzo Piano has signed on to the project, and the building seems to be a priority for President Neil L. Rudenstine.

And only three years after the University was criticized by a number of Boston officials and residents for anonymously buying land in Allston, Harvard is vying to further expand its presence in the area--and perhaps to cement plans to eventually relocate an entire graduate school to Allston.

Harvard publicly announced its intention to submit a bid for 48 acres of land that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is offering to the highest bidder. Bids will be submitted on June 29, and the sale will be determined on the spot.

The 48 acres, known as Allston Landing, are contiguous to Harvard Business School.

Under Construction

Back in the Yard, a large yellow crane joined the Harvard landscape in the fall, and renovations continue on Widener Library, as a central heating and cooling system, a fire suppression system and enhanced security features are installed.

The project's main goal is to ensure a longer shelf life and increased security for the library's collections.

Meanwhile, renovations will begin immediately after Commencement on University Hall, home to FAS administrators, and continue through next fall.

Administrators are packing up their boxes and moving north of the Yard, to a building across from Maxwell Dworkin, a computer science and electrical engineering building dedicated by Microsoft President Steven A. Ballmer '77 in October.