"I hate looking at it the way it is now. It's afabulous building. It will be a knockout once thetower is back on," said Secretary of the FacultyJohn B. Fox '59.

Even some of those once critical of the"frightful" building have had their opinionschanged over time.

Francis E. Donovan '59-'61, who wrote a"scathing dissertation" in his first year on "whata horrible monstrosity [the tower] is," has had achange of heart.

"I am now 61 years old and totally devoted tothe idea of restoring it. I think it's a wonderfulidea," Donovan said.

University officials have dealt delicately withthe monstrous project, conscious of the fact thatthe renovation does nothing to address spaceissues at the College.

To that end, all funds for theproject--including a $2 million gift fromKatherine B. Loker, widow of Donald P. Loker '25,and another significant gift from Design Schoolalumnus Graham D. Gund--have been earmarked forthe project.

"[The tower is] basically frivolous, but it isHarvard's icon and to spend money that isavailable to spend elsewhere is probablyimprudent, but if you've got money on hand, spendit." said David A. Zewinski '76, associate deanfor physical resources and planning in the Facultyof Arts and Sciences.

Development officials maintain that the tower'scompletion does not "go against the grain of whatare clearly well-defined [Campaign] priorities,"said Roger P. Cheever '67, associate dean fordevelopment.

Student leaders said yesterday that the projectreflects a poor decision by University officials,who they said should first address the need forincreased space.

"I'm concerned about what this says about thefundraising priorities of the university," wroteUndergraduate Council President Noah Z. Seton '00in an e-mail message. "Certainly there aredonors...who care about undergraduate life at theschool, and those donors could be convinced thattheir money would be best used to construct astudent center."

Council Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00said it is "absurd that Harvard draws ondonors...to fund a project which has no immediatebenefit for students."

"I think just the opposite," Mansfield said. "Ithink it's good to spend money on something thatis only beautiful." He cited William James Hall,the Science Center and the Holyoke Center asexamples of "unadorned utility."

Project Manager Randall also disagreed withopponents of the renovation, pointing out "a wholegroup of people think it's a crying shame that wehaven't done it since 1956."

Construction on the project will begin inmid-June.

The tower will be assembled in eight sectionsoff-site and the 20-ton pieces will be hoistedinto place