Though on the route to Radcliffe, the green, porticoed building at 33 Garden Street seldom attracts attention. But for foreign students in Cambridge, the International Students' Center is a little piece of home. There, men and women of every race, creed and continent meet for icebox parties in the kitchen, a game of chess, a dance, or one of the frequent lectures which invariably turn into fervent discussions.
The Center was founded in 1941 by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Mead. Containing both Harvard and M.I.T., Cambridge was then becoming the Mecca of American education, and the new importance of America in world affairs brought foreign students here by the thousands. The Meads recognized the need to provide foreign students with helpful information about America and her customs, but they wanted the Center they established to retain the friendly family tone it had before it moved out of their living room. And though the Center maintains listings of rooms and odd jobs, the Swiss hospitality of present directors Hans and Eleanor Speigel make it more than mere welfare organization, housing bureau, or YMCA.
"We try to create an atmosphere here," says Hans, "whose friendliness will remind a foreign scholar of his homeland--a sort of "home away from home"--but sufficiently different to challenge him with the habits and thinking of other lands and nations." The Center's genial leisure fosters such an ideal. Students from hostile nations resolve their problems over the chessboard; Englishmen and Egyptians, over a pot of tea, discuss the Suez Canal bloodlessly. Hans and Eleanor feel that such intimate chats help build foundations for permanent friendship and understanding.
Perhaps the ski posters, the ping pong rooms, or the large record collection contribute to the casual atmosphere, but the directors' jovial insistance that the students, themselves, plan all activities is responsible for the enthusiastic response. Twice weekly, there are lectures on topics ranging from economic stresses in Yugoslavia to racial segregation, Morris Mitchell's topic for this Sunday. The Tea Committee attracts the young ladies, proud that the Center's tea is reputed the best in the Northeast, and knowing too that males can be inveigled to help wash the dishes. S.O.M.E. Committee (Scouting, Outing, Meeting, and Eating) organizes spur-of-the-moment outings, like hiking in Vermont or clambakes at Crane's Beach.
When the Meads established the Center, local qualms over the word International almost caused its failure. In fact, it is this that most disturbs the present directors. Hans jokingly tells of people telephoning to inquire peregrine words for crossword puzzles, but more seriously insists that "to be truly international, the Center must include Americans as well. For Americans are welcome, and it is only lack of information that keeps them away."
