Though Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby said Monday he had made no decisions on the administrative restructuring of the College, multiple University Hall sources said yesterday that Kirby has already tapped Dean of Undergraduate Educaton Benedict H. Gross ’71 to fill the new position.

The naming of a new dean to oversee both undergraduate education and student life is part of the consolidation of the College’s bureaucratic structure that eliminated the position currently held by Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68.

Lewis, to his surprise, found out just over two weeks ago that his job would no longer exist.

Gross denied yesterday that he had been selected to be the new dean and maintained that no one has been named to the post.

“I don’t know where the dean will come from,” Gross said. “Probably a member of the Faculty.”

But Lewis told members of the College administration this week that Kirby said Gross would be their new boss.

This would mean that the decision has been made without the consultation of the committee charged with discussing the integration of the two deans’ duties.

That committee has not yet met.

“As far as I know, a date hasn’t been set,” said committee member David P. Illingworth ’71, who is an associate dean of the College. “Nobody has informed anyone. It’s a very confusing time.”

“I think the committee should have been consulted,” a University Hall source said. “If a committee is going to have any effect, it should be trusted with determining the direction of this.”

Administrators are not the only interested group that may be left out of the decision-making process.

Winthrop House Senior Tutor Courtney B. Lamberth said yesterday she was unaware of Kirby’s preference for Gross.

“I haven’t been informed of anything,” said Lamberth, who also announced last night that she would be stepping down for family and academic reasons in June.

And at yesterday’s Faculty Council meeting, Kirby said nothing to the group of 18 professors regarding the potential appointment of Gross.

“Dean Gross is staying at his post for the moment but there is no suggestion of who it might be,” said council member Everett I. Mendelsohn, who is a professor of the history of science.