Those students and alumni who spent their first year here eating beneath the butter-besplattered ceiling of the historic Freshman Union can finally see the renovated structure.

Renamed the Barker Center for the Humanities, the former Freshman Union officially opened its doors to the Harvard community from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. last Thursday after eighteen months of closure, allowing some of the humanities departments to begin the moving in process.

The whole Harvard community is excited about the implications of the move.

"You won't need to search for the smile on my face: just walk around, and look at the faces of the inhabitants!" said Jeremy R. Knowles, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

According to building planners, the newly remodelled facility will include a small cafe to be run by C'est Bon--a popular Square eatery. This new dining establishment is expected to open in late June and will located in the Rotunda--part of the old dining area for first-years.

In the past week, the English department, which used to be located next door in Warren House, and the Religion department, which was formerly housed on the second floor of Phillips Brooks House, have both already moved into their new spaces in the building, said Maureen A. McCarthy, manager of the Barker Center.

"We're the first department to move in," said Mary C. Johnson, the coordinator of undergraduate studies in the English department.

Johnson expressed her admiration for the refurbished building. "It's exquisite!" she said.

Johnson also said that the English Faculty is "ecstatic" to be finally located all in the same building.

After being housed most recently in three separate buildings, said Johnson, this is the first time the entire department has been together in years.

"It's real new home for the entire faculty now," said Johnson.

Several other departments that will be moving in to the Barker Center said they are excited about the move.

Janice Thaddeus, director of studies in the history and literature department, said her department is especially pleased to be moving from its current residence in the Vanserg building to a more central location.

"It's really going to be a place where we can get to know our students much better than we could out here in Vanserg," said Thaddeus. "We're glad to be nearby again, right across from Lamont Library and near the Yard where many of the students live."

Representatives from the Afro-American Studies Department, which will move from its Harvard Square location above the CVS store on Mass. Ave. to a space in the Barker Center, likewise say they are looking forward to the move.

"We'll feel a closer connection with the larger Harvard community," said Jill L. Salk, a staff assistant with the Afro-American studies department.

Salk said the Afro-American studies department is especially pleased because her department's large new space in the Barker Center--which features a special library--will finally allow it to operate more closely with the DuBois Institute.

"We're also excited to be more closely connected to the other Harvard humanity departments," she added.

The Administration also looks forward to the interaction between different departments.

"I'm delighted...by the predictable consequences for intellectual interchange and the casual (and purposeful) interaction between faculty and graduate students and undergraduates in the College," wrote Knowles in a fax to The Crimson.

Although many departments say they are excited at the prospect of relocating to the spacious new Barker Center, all of this moving has caused some upheavals.

The House and Neighborhood Development (HAND) program will soon move in to PBH, which the religion department has recently vacated.

Although there have been concerns that HAND and the community service programs already based in PBH should not share any affiliation, Judith Kidd, assistant dean for public service, said having the two programs share a building should incite no conflict.

"We're looking forward to having [HAND] in the House and having an interaction between the [HAND] program and a lot of the other public service programs on campus,' said Kidd, who noted that there have already been several planning meetings to prepare for the upcoming move. The new Barker Center for the Humanities includes the former Union building, the adjoining Burr Hall and nearby Warren House; the construction cost $25 million.

In total, roughly a dozen academic departments will relocate to the Barker Center, said McCarthy.

Eight of those departments will be housed in the former Union building while three of them will now be head-quartered in Warren House, where renovations are expected to finish by August 10.

In addition to English, Afro-American studies, history and literature and religion, other departments relocating to the old Union building include German and Slavic studies.

The Women's studies, Celtic studies, and Folklore and Mythology department will move into Warren House after current renovations are completed.

Last year, the Union's refurbishment touched off protests by alumni, who demanded it instead be preserved as a historical site.

According to Elizabeth L. Randall, the capital projects manager with FAS physical resources who has been directing the renovations for the Barker Center since design plans were first drawn in 1994, the builders tried to respect the historic integrity of the building's architecture.

Randall says she appreciates the new look of the building.

"I think the work speaks for itself," said Randall.

In spite of its modernity, the newly unveiled Barker Center sports an amazingly traditional look with large, carved wooden panels and classical palates reminiscent of the old Union.

Students familiar with the old Union may notice the many original busts, memorial plaques and paintings which have been preserve and incorporated into the building's modern design.

The building's new atrium--which occupies the space of the former Great Hall--opens up to an expansive, skylit view of the building's for floors. Here, behind glass walls, builders have preserved the two large fireplaces that graced the ends of the old Union.

A painting of Major Higginson, the original benefactor of the building, still adorns a nearby wall.

Finally, one of a pair of elk-horn chandeliers--which in Harvard's lore have been attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1880--still hangs in this atrium.

According to building officials, its counterpart elk-horn chandelier now resides at the New York Harvard Club.

The old Union has also been renovated to include a copy center in the modernized basement. The copy center, run by Harvard publishing, can be utilized by all Harvard students and Faculty, said Randall.

"A majority of the [building] space is for faculty offices; however we do have several meeting rooms said McCarthy.

Each department has it own seminar room and there are seven shared meeting rooms, according to McCarthy and Randall.

If the professors and graduates should so choose, students may soon be attending classes in some of those new seminar rooms, said McCarthy.

Although it is currently undergoing last-minute construction operations, the Barker Center will remain open through Commencement according to planners