University Will Hire Assistant To Help in Building Projects

The University is about to hire a "director of Special Projects" to co-ordinate the financing of an energy plant and a low-income housing project near the Medical School that Harvard will build in the near future, Hale Champion, financial vice president, said yesterday.

Champion also said that the new director would help to install and co-ordinate data processing techniques between "various departments and various budgetary units."

Champion said that "presently, there are different data systems being used by different departments." He said the new director would help install a common system for all departments and faculties.

The appointment is for two years, and Champion emphasized yesterday that it would not be permanent. "This appointment is only designed to take an enormous amount of immediate work off my back--to temporarily relieve me of pressure," he said.

One of the director's tasks, Champion said, would be to decide when the energy plant and housing project will be built, basing the decision mainly on prevailing interest rates and the possibility that they will decline.

"There are three or four candidates being considered for the position," Champion said yesterday. He added that "one in particular has the inside track," but delined to identify the candidate.