Barring any fundraising problems, construction of the new humanities center will begin in March 1996, according to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles.

Knowles said that $9 to $10 million still must be raised before the project is fully financed, but construction can begin before the entire sum is raised.

The Freshman Union will be transformed into "an attractive, light-filled" humanities megaplex, housing departments from Folklore and Mythology to Women's Studies, according to Philip Parsons, director of planning for Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

The humanities center will house to 10 academic departments.

According to Parsons, the center is designed to foster "a sense of academic community" among and within humanities departments by increasing faculty and student contact across departments.

Parsons, who began work on the humanities center project nearly eight years ago, said the center is designed to solve widespread space shortages in humanities departments.

"A lot of faculty still don't have departmental space," said Parsons. Even worse, he said, is the situation for teaching fellows and graduate students.

One member of the history and literature office said his office was originally concerned about being squeezed in the allocation of space in the new building.

Professor of English and American Literature and Language Daniel G. Donoghue, who is chair of the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature, said that the administrative offices of the department will be separated from the tutors, who are being placed in the basement.

We're not that dismayed. given the adjustment that everyone had to make," Donoghue said.

He said history and literature will accept less space for their tutors than they had in their former offices in Burr Hall. They will sacrifice the total square footage in return for more offices, Donoghue said.

Some humanities departments that will not relocate to the complex have voiced concerns about being alienated.

Irene Winter, chair of the fine arts department, said she did not want the humanities departments not moving into the center, including fine arts and music, to be forgotten.

Parsons said the proximity of most of these departments to the new humanities center will not exclude these departments.

The new center sits at the apex of a V-Configuration of humanities buildings, with the museums of Quincy Street on one side and a line of humanities buildings from Boylston Hall to Widener and Lamont Libraries on the other.