A lawyer representing the Harvard Alumni Architectural Review Committee (HAARC) asked a judge in the Middlesex Superior Court yesterday for a preliminary injunction continuing the current halt of all construction on the Harvard Union.

The court heard arguments to determine the merits of halting the renovations until the case can be heard in court and will issue its decision on Thursday.

A temporary restraining order was obtained last Tuesday by HAARC, a group of alums and other individuals concerned over the plans to renovate the Harvard Union.

The greatest source of controversy over these plans has focused on the division of the Union's Great Hall into three sections. This subject has received nation-wide attention over the past months, with coverage by the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

The Hearing

Thomas Bracken, the attorney for the plaintiffs, asked that the injunction be ordered "before more work is done, before the Great Hall is chopped up into three spaces, and before more money is poured into [renovating] a space we are trying to save."

Harvard's attorney John K. Felter, told the court that "every day construction is halted, $16,000 is lost.... The same amount given as a tuition grant to students requiring financial aid."

"This temporary restraining order has brought to a screeching halt eight years of planning and consultation," Felter said, pointing out that losses equal the salary of one faculty member of the University.

"If the restraining order lasts for 30 days, the costs will exceed one million dollars," Felter told the court.

However, HAARC had a different view concerning the significance of the monetary loss of the University.

"It is not [Dean Jeremy R.] Knowles's money, nor [Director of Planning for FAS Phillip J.] Parsons's.... It is the alumni's money," said Bracken, responding to comments by Felter.

Felter went on to categorize HAARC as "a handful of alumni who feel they know best how Harvard should handle its buildings and how it should succeed in fulfilling its educational mission."

Bracken, however, emphasized that the entire Department of Architecture of the Graduate School of Design joined the voices of protest of the plans.

Disputes

The arguments set forth in court yesterday relate to Harvard's application last year to the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board for variances to permit Harvard to keep four doors in the Union that are not wheelchair accessible.