Graced with elegant stained glass windows and wood darkened with years of use, Sanders Theatre and Annenberg Hall practically groan under the weight of Harvard tradition.

But beneath their ancient floors now lies something a bit more modern--Loker Commons, a new student center at the pulse of Harvard student life.

The facility includes a food court, newsstand, computer kiosk and conference rooms.

Funded in large part by a $7 million donation from Katherine Bogdonovich Loker, the widow of Donald P. Loker '25, Loker Commons officially opened in January, after eight years of planning.

Loker is not Harvard's first attempt to maintain a student center, but it differs dramatically from its now-defunct predecessor, the Harvard Union.

While the Union used to serve as a reading room where first-years could recline in leather chairs and sip sherry, architects and planners intended Loker to be a less imposing space. In fact, it became one of the few places at Harvard reminiscent of other college campuses.

Rather than roast beef and hasty pudding, pizza and burritos are on the bill of fare at Loker.

And instead of oak panelling, Loker sports blue and red fluorescent track lighting, a 70-square foot LED (light-emitting diode) display which project student art projects, and a 114-foot long electronic light "frieze," screening extracurricular announcements and poetry.

While nearly one-third of students responded that they initially "hated" the LED frieze in a Crimson poll, when the LED began to run student-related announcements instead of segments of Alice in Wonderland, student opinion swung.

The locus of student life has now shifted from the Square across the Yard.

"Now, instead of making the Tommy's [House of Pizza] run, I make the Loker run," Kenji D. Scott '98 said.

"If I took a book to Tommy's, people would look at me like I'm crazy," Aaron P. Easterly '99 said.

But the University's planners were not able to please every student.

Despite repeated student requests, officials have refused to create a television viewing area.

In addition, although the Minority Students' Alliance asked for a permanent space in the Loker facility, their petition has been denied, with administrators such as Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III saying that multicultural centers promote racial separation.