History will remain in Robinson Hall.
Lea Professor of Medieval History Thomas N. Bisson, who chairs the department, says he does not feel left out.
"The Harvard Yard is not that big," Bisson says. "We meet each other in lots of buildings. I don't think the fact of not having offices next to other colleagues makes much difference."
Bisson says he would like to see his department considered part of the humanities as well as the social sciences at Harvard. But not being in the humanities complex has little relation to that distinction, he says.
"My understanding is that the argument is perfectly practical, that history has a nice old building in the Yard which is mostly sufficient," Bisson says.
If faculty members aren't completely happy about the new complex, is not for lack of consultation.
In August 1993, a professional consultant interviewed almost 90 percent of the faculty slated to move into the quad, a total of more than 90 people.
Associate Dean of the Faculty Polly Price developed a questionnaire for the interviews. The form asked about departments' technological needs, how often professors meet with graduate students in their offices, and how administrators handle professors' travel plans.
Professors' biggest fear was a cookie-cutter complex, shoehorning each department into a similar office suite, Price says.
As a result, the message sent to the architects clearly stated that maintaining the integrity of the different departments was a high priority, Price says.
Faculty members say they were grateful for the extensive consultation, even if physical limitations had to play a big role in deciding where each would actually end up.
"I have to say that the administration has really gone out of its way to try to include as many people as it could in the decision process," says Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology Michael S. Flier, who chairs the linguistics department.
The complex will meet the space goals outlined by Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles in a July 19 letter to faculty. he wanted to consolidate each department in one location and provide unshared departmental offices to all professors.
"For the first time, everyone in the English department will have an office," says Professor of Germanic Philology Eckehard Simon, a member of the humanities quad planning committee.
Before this, "even the full professors had to share offices," he says.