Even now, Alan J. Stone, Harvard’s vice president for government, community and public affairs, estimates that he spends 20 to 30 percent of his time working with city officials on the tunnel, although he declines to detail exactly what he’s doing.

Meanwhile, work on CGIS moves forward. Last week wrecking crews began tearing down two old University buildings, which will be replaced by the new CGIS structures.

In order to keep construction on schedule, Associate Dean for Physical Planning David A. Zewinski ’76 says Harvard officials need to know whether or not there would be a tunnel by the end of the year.

But at this point, Stone says he does not know if any councillors’ minds have changed about the tunnel, and he says he’s reluctant to force the issue too soon.

“We don’t want to ask until we know what the final terms of the conversation might lead to,” he says. “We don’t want a ‘no’ when there’s a chance for a ‘yes.’”

The tunnel battle has proved a schooling ground in Harvard’s Cambridge politics for Stone, who came to his post one year ago this month.

But even as he’s still putting in time pulling for a tunnel, Stone says the University is rethinking the way it conducts community relations in construction projects.

“Almost everyone would be served by a faster process and a process with more certitude earlier,” Stone says. “No one’s served by a process that takes six to seven years.”

In particular, as Harvard looks to build large-scale science facilities in the North Yard, Stone says the University is trying to get commmunity feedback early in the game. He is sending community relations officials to talk with neighborhood groups about the University’s plans even before architects are hired.

“We’re trying to communicate very early in the process,” Stone says.

As for Mid-Cambridge, Stone, who came to Harvard only years after negotiations had started, calls the current era of community relations a time of “rebuilding.”

Government department chair Roderick MacFarquhar, who last spring worked on a faculty petition supporting the tunnel, said that he still hopes permission will come through—although he says he has backed off from lobbying for the tunnel.

“Alan Stone is extremely competent and if he can’t persuade people, I don’t think I can do any better,” MacFarquhar says. “I’m sure he’s doing everything that’s possible and it may be it’s a losing battle.”

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu