All Harvard undergraduates go into Memorial Hall at least once before they graduate. Even those who skip "Heroes" and avoid a cappella concerts have to head over to the University's most prominent example of Victorian architecture come registration time.

But soon, if Harvard administrators have their way, Memorial Hall will be a center of student activity and entertainment.

Last Thursday, school officials announced that a recent $7 million gift would be used to convert the basement of Memorial Hall into a student center in time for the 1995-96 school year.

The change is part of a $50 million grand plan to redo Memorial Hall, refurbishing Sanders Theatre and moving the first-year dining hall to Alumni Hall, the building's cavernous meeting room. The Harvard Union will be turned into a center for the humanities.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, who has taken on the renovations as his pet projects says his vision for the scheme goes beyond a mere student center.

"We're not referring to it as a student center, but as a commons," says Epps. "It will have food and meeting rooms, as well as small theater. This facility is meant to be College-wide...for undergraduates, graduates, faculty," he says.

He says he believes the commons is needed. "It's an attempt to provide a place for students to meet outside their house," he says. "I think it will fill a real need for social life to take place at Harvard."

The new center will provide an alternative to the house system--and possibly a draw away from house events, as well.

Some have pointed to the plan for a students' center as a concession that Harvard's highly touted house system has failed in providing a social outlet for undergraduates.

Those involved in organizing house social lifehave mixed feelings about the plans. Paul M.Secunda '93, a member of the Eliot HouseCommittee, says he approves of increasedinter-house interaction. "When we got to school inthe beginning, [life] was all centered around theFreshman Union. We're missing that in the houses,"says Secunda.

Secunda says he feels that houses do not liveup to their stated purpose as social centers. Hesays the center should provide another option inthe Harvard social scene, which he says consistsof "bars, final clubs and individual parties."

House masters interviewed yesterday like theidea of a new center but have reservations.Dunster House Master Karel F. Liem says hewelcomes the creation of additional common space.Overcrowding in the house severely limits practiceand performance space for Dunsterites, accordingto Liem.

He says, ideally, he would have preferredexpansion of common space in Dunster, allowingsocial life to remain grounded at the house.

"I think it is important for Harvard to havestrong house life," Liem says.

He says he is not sure if the house conceptwill be harmed by the new addition. "It mightimprove the quality of life for undergraduates,"he says, "but it certainly would not strengthenHouses."

Lowell House Master William H. Bossert says hebelieves student groups desperately need the spacethe center will provide.

But he questions the location's social use."The Greenhouse Cafe in the Science Center isprobably more useful as a lounge and center," hesays.

Tree F. Loong '94, co-chair of theUndergraduate Council's Social Committee lastyear, admits she wouldn't mind a center likeMIT's. She thinks the results will be generallypositive--if things are done as they should be.

"I think students will go if it is planned asand made a cool place," she says.

In the past the College has consistentlyrefused to create separate social or culturalinstitutions for the benefit of students. Inparticular, the College in 1982 came out againstthe creation of an African-American StudentsCenter or a Third World Students Center.

Yet, since the College severed ties with thenine all-male final clubs, Harvard has been tryingto develop a social alternative to the clubs.

Student Center

Plans for a student center have been talkedabout for years by administrators, as has theintent to move first-year diners from the Union toMemorial Hall for meals. But Thursday'sannouncement was the first time a timetable hasbeen revealed to the public.

Epps says that Associate Dean of PlanningPhillip Parsons has done numerous studies whichshowed that Memorial Hall was the best place for asocial center, sitting approximately in the middleof campus traffic.

Several students say they don't agree. "I don'tthink Memorial Hall is a good place for a studentcenter. It's too far away from the houses," saysDianne M. Reeder '93.

Jesse M. Furman '94 had another place in mind."The [location] of the Inn at Harvard was theperfect location and the perfect opportunity," hesays. "I venture to say it won't be verysuccessful unless they do something to attractstudents--it's not very centrally located."

Also revealed for the first time were specificplans of the new center drawn up by Venturi, ScottBrown and Associates, a Philadelphia-basedarchitecture firm.

Architects plan a wide outdoor staircase to bebuilt into the ground on the west side of thebuilding, facing the Science Center.

An extended common area, stretching from oneend of the building to another, will take theplace of the winding corridors and small roomscurrently in place. The blueprints call for theeast side to be an informal performance area forseveral groups.

According to the most recent designs, the lowerlevel will also include a rehearsal room and greenroom for student productions and several smallerrooms that can be used for seminars or meetings.

But none of these rooms, depicted as lookingmuch like classrooms, are meant for long-term useby one group or the other--unlike the basementoffices that now house several student groups. Andso far, no one has proposed sufficient alternativemeeting places.

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.