Homeless Groups?
As things stand now, the basement of MemorialHall is home to a diverse mix of student groups.Oddly, the Perspective and the Salient sit side byside. WHRB broadcasts its musical orgies not farfrom the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra office. Andwhile the Asian-American Association, the BlackStudent Association and Raza hold meetingselse-where, their administrative offices are alsolocated in the basement.
And no one seems to know just where all thesegroups and others will move when constructionbegins in about 20 months.
There was no real advance warning of theupcoming shift before Thursday's announcement,student leaders say. "We don't know where we'regoing to be," says Reeder, who is Salienteditor-in-chief, "and we're not too happy aboutit. No one will tell us anything."
Reeder says the Salient has actually beenlooking for a bigger office for several years.But, she says, whenever the publication spoke toUniversity officials, they offered little help.This fall, she was told that no new space would befree in the near future.
However, Reeder says the Salient has a newoffice site in mind, one which would be availableafter the planned renovation of the first-yeardorms. "They're talking about renovating thebasement of [a Wigglesworth entry] and putting usthere--that would be excellent," she says.
The Salient is somewhat better off than itsmore liberal Memorial Hall counterpart.Perspective President Furman says he is worriedabout where his group will go.
"We weren't planning to move," he says. "Atleast for now, I have no idea where or when itwill be."
The BSA also occupies a room in the basement ofMemorial Hall, but their space is solely used foradministrative purposes. "It's big enough for anoffice, but it's not where we have our meetings,"says Jennifer E. Fisher '93, BSA press secretary.
Fisher says the announcement took the BSA bysurprise, but she says the conversion actually maywork to the group's favor in the long run whenhumanities deparments move to the Union."Ultimately, the BSA is interested in getting ahouse of some sort...possibly the English house,"she says.
Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 stressesthat plans are in the early stages. "We're keepingour eyes open for any possible spaces," he says."There are lots of different options."
Logistical Dilemmas
The change poses other problems of a logisticalnature. The move of the first-year diningfacilities from the Union to Alumni Hall has beenbandied about for years, but one question has yetto be answered--where will students register forclasses?
Jewett says the committee handling theconversion and chaired by Graduate School of Artsand Sciences Dean Christoph J. Wolff has yet tomeet, much less discuss registration procedures.However, he indicates that the process ofregistration itself may change.
"Nothing says everything has to be done in onebig room. [Eventually] we hope it may be possiblefor everyone to register by computer," he says.
Thurston A. Smith, associate registrar,cautiously agrees, but offers anotherpossibility--registration by house. "Clearly inthe long future we will do much more on line...butmaybe by making it smaller we would be making iteasier," he says.
Other matters besides registration remain to besettled. Epps says there are no intentions tochange Sanders Theatre's status as a lecture hall.But what happens when 800 hungry undergraduatesget out of Ec 10 at 1 p.m. and make a direct linefor the dining room right across the hall?
"We haven't thought that far ahead," says Epps."We've made no decisions about upperclass diningrestrictions [in the proposed facility]."
But Epps is still optimistic about the impactthe commons will have on student life.
"I think it's long overdue and will help usbring cohesion to college life," he says.