Several administrators have also said they're concerned that Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby is now working to shift the College's priorities away from extracurricular activities as he forces out Lewis—a longtime advocate of student life and extracurriculars--and replaces him with someone whose administrative area of expertise had been curricular matters.

In an e-mail, Lewis made a reference to changes at the College.

"Dean Illingworth has a profound respect for and love of Harvard, and believes that what we have received from the past is a valued heritage," Lewis wrote, "that even as the College must constantly adapt, adjust, and move forward, we have much to learn from those who came before us."

Several College administrators have said they’ve been told that they will have a place in the new administration, but the atmosphere in University Hall is tense, and Gross has said that he is still unsure what roles each of the veterans would play.

Illingworth joins Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery '87 and Registrar of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Arlene Becella as close colleagues of Lewis who will be leaving this summer.

His departure may make it easier for Kirby and Gross to implement a new administrative structure while stepping on the toes of fewer of Lewis' administrators.

"Harry Lewis was the most important reason I took this job," Illingworth said in 2000, after his first semester in University Hall. "I wanted to work with him, be in on his thinking, his vision of what this College should be."

--Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.