Stephen S.J. Hall: A Can-Do Guy

Stephen Saint John Hall came to Harvard in the summer of 1971, during the time that President-elect Bok was assembling his staff of vice presidents. He was 36 years old, director of operations support for the Sheraton division of ITT, and dissatisfied with corporate America when he got the call to take over Harvard's administrative side.

"I could have hung in at ITT the rest of my life and they would have cradled me in their tender hands," he said in an interview three years later. "If I had subordinated my needs to the needs of the company, and knelt before the throne, they would have taken good care of me the rest of my life. But that would have meant the loss of my whole identity."

So Hall came here, and started to streamline and computerize, and saved Harvard some money, and became a little controversial along the way with people on whom his corporate jargon and high-pressure style grated.

Last week Hall said in an interview that he'll probably be leaving Harvard at the end of the academic year, to return to the business world. This page is a look back at some of the ways, during the last five years, he made his mark on Harvard.

Two-track or three-track? That was the question when Hall sat down with Faculty administrators in 1974 to choose the type of storm window best suited to the University's fuel conservation needs.

But instead of coming to a quick decision, the Faculty (which favored the three-track) slugged it out in private with Hall (who stood firmly behind the two-track) right through the cold winter of 1974-75.

Hall stuck to his guns and eventually won out. But had there been no dispute, the Faculty might have been able to save as much as $500,000.

Hall later disputed the $500,000 figure and denied there had been a Faculty-administration rift. Never-theless, it won't be until next year that the Faculty will be able to fully enjoy the estimated 15-per-cent savings that the storm windows will earn over regular fuel bills.