Farewell, Dean Epps

College students, and especially Harvard students, are a finicky bunch. We resent rules and scoff at the antiquated notion of in loco parentis, but at the same time demand that our deans and administrators pay careful attention to our needs. We're suspicious of authority but turn to University Hall whenever there's a problem with life at the College. We love complaining but are wary of giving even an inch of recognition to the men and women who make our undergraduate experience what it is.

Perhaps no one knows this better than Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, who is leaving his position as the intermediary between students and the College administration this year after more than 30 years in University Hall. It takes a rare kind of individual to succeed at what seems like an often thankless job, but Epps has excelled. Our dean has taken plenty of abuse over the last three decades--some of it from this page--but we hope that is not how he will remember his time at Harvard.

Dean Epps can move on to his new position as "Senior Associate Dean" for the senior class knowing that he has shaped the lives of a generation of Harvard students. During Epps' tenure, the number of student groups on campus has skyrocketed, race relations have improved and the Undergraduate Council was formed. Epps has had a hand in each of these developments. He also has been a devoted supporter of the arts at Harvard, particularly the Glee Club of which he was once a member.

More importantly, though, Epps has been an important presence at the College, to some a symbol of Harvard itself. Presidents and deans of the College have come and gone, while Dean Epps has stayed in University Hall. He is an unmistakable figure on campus and a constant presence at student events. The soft-spoken, bow-tied dean is a student of Harvard's history and a guardian of institutional memory.

The irreplaceable Epps will indeed not be replaced. Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 instead has divided Epps' job among three associate deans who will care for extracurricular activities, space allocation and House life. We look forward to seeing how the new arrangement will serve students, though we are wary of the dissolution of the office of the Dean of Students.

Dean Epps, meanwhile, as he watches the Class of 1999 graduate tomorrow, the last on his watch as dean of students, should take the time to congratulate himself on what has been an amazing 28 years of service to the students of Harvard College.