Other groups like the Salient, the Harvard Islamic Society, Raza and the Black Students Association could end up at the current Hillel building after it moves to Rosovsky Hall, construction on which is expected to be completed by September, 1994.
Liberal monthly publication Perspective, whose offices are presently in Memorial Hall, may not have sufficient meeting space after it moves next winter, according to President Jesse M. Furman '94. "We don't know where we're moving yet," he says. "But it will probably be a huge inconvenience, especially since we're moving in the middle of the year."
Furman says the new offices might not provide enough room for both production and conferencing. "What I'm worried about right now is the year and a half of lag time between the time we move and the time we can meet at Mem Hall," he says.
Furman is optimistic that the access to new resources will benefit Harvard students campus-wide, regardless of the inconvenience to his organization.
"I really think that in the end, for the Harvard community, the trouble will be worth it," he says.
Some groups are even using the move as an opportunity to expand their operations and improve their facilities.
WHRB, Harvard's radio station, has already undertaken a $1.3 million fund raising campaign to upgrade its equipment when it moves to the renovated basement of Pennypacker Hall next year, according to General Manager Jeremy A. Rassen '95.
Some groups will be able to return to their former Memorial Hall haunts after the commons is complete Parsons says that many of the groups whose offices now occupy the Memorial Hall basement use their space mainly for storage.
"We now have the opportunity to rethink the space we are allocating to student groups," he says. "We want the activities area to be alive, with an open door policy for groups who want to meet there."
According to Parsons, few of the groups who now use basement space actually need permanent offices there. The planning committee proposes to allow student groups to store mobile files in the commons area, moving them into activities rooms for meetings.
Parsons says he hopes to keep Sanders Theatre open and usable throughout the coming academic years, closing it for renovation only during the summer months. "It would be a major problem finding other areas where large core classes would meet if we couldn't use Sanders," he adds.
"That dining hall is going to be so fantastically beautiful when it is ready, I look forward to that day," Parsons effuses.
He takes pride in the original plans, citing the fact that, in the end, the committee "stuck close to our first concept, which must mean that we started off in the right direction."
And even if future years call for new designs, Parsons says the plans were conceived in such a way as to be flexible. "Nothing will be set in stone," he says. "The biggest mistake we could make would be to overprogram the thing."
But with the energy and innovation which has been devoted to this project, student dissatisfaction might well be the least of the planning committee's worries.
"Logistically, the proportions of this project are nightmarish," Parsons says. "I am amazed by what it takes get things done here."
"But we will get them done, and when that happens we will have created an incredible facility for Harvard College," he adds