The Office of Career Services (OCS) has barred McKinsey and Company, a pre-eminent consulting group, from this year's on-campus recruiting program because the firm backed out of the program last year.

OCS' ban on McKinsey--a major on-campus recruiter in the past--prevents the company from holding information sessions on campus and tabling at the career fair during the current school year.

But McKinsey officials said the company remains committed to soliciting Harvard students.

The ban came after a dispute between OCS and McKinsey officials last fall over the company's behavior during on campus recruiting.

McKinsey planned to find its Harvard job candidates through OCS as it has done in the past, but the firm moved off campus in order to accommodate a greater number of candidates than possible at OCS.

"Although we communicated our needs well in advance, OCS did not have the facilities to accommodate the number of students we expected to interview, and rather than reduce the number of qualified candidates we could see, we decided to move off-campus," said Matthew L. Kramer '98 co-leader of Harvard undergraduate recruiting for McKinsey and a former Crimson editor.

The lateness of the switch vexed the OCS administration, which organizes recruitment for hundreds of employers throughout the year.

"During the fall term they decided not to come on campus and caused us serious difficulties," said Bill Wright-Swadel, director of recruiting at OCS.