At a meeting of the University Debating Council yesterday afternoon it was decided to make use of the permission given by the Corporation at its last meeting, and fit up the top floor of Dane Hall as a debating headquarters to be occupied at the beginning of the second half year. The rooms will be repapered and painted, and decorated with pictures of former debating teams, and cups won by Harvard debaters. Chairs, similar to those now in use in the Periodical Room of the Union, will be ordered; tables and desks will be installed, suitable to debating uses.
At the head of the stairs leading up from the Bursar's office is a large lecture room, known as the Upper Dane Lecture Room. It is planned to leave this in its present condition for the use of Professor Baker's course in debating, English 30. At the head of the stairs, and to the right, a corridor leads into a small room to be known as the library and reading room, in which will be kept the current magazines and periodicals. It is possible that permission will be given to move reference books from Gore Hall to the shelves of the Dane library, during the period of preparation for a debate. The next room, of about the same size, will be used as a committee meeting room, for the use of the University Debating Council, and other debating committees. Three small rooms extend across the entire west end of the building, and will be used as conference rooms for the courses in debating, and as store rooms of debating records. This is one of the most important functions of the new rooms. During the fifty years that debating has held an important position at Harvard hardly any records have been preserved. From now on it will the duty of the secretaries of the various debating clubs to collect and preserve the material which gathers in debating activities. To the east of the library and committee room is a large apartment, which will be set aside for students of English 30, and members of the debating clubs.
A house committee has been appointed, consisting of the presidents of the various debating clubs, for the assignment and use of the rooms. To provide funds for furnishing and maintaining the building, a committee was appointed to consist of: E.M. Rabenold 2L., chairman, G. Clark 3L., A.C. Blagden '06. Two graduates will also co-operate with the committee. A subscription of $25 has already been received from the Harvard Club of Cincinnati.
The following officers of the University Debating Council were elected for the second half year: E.M. Rabenold 2L., president: W.M. Shohl '06, vice-president; A.N. Holcombe '06, secretary; M.C. Leckner '07, treasurer.
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