Samuel C. Cohen '00, chair of the council's Student Center Working Group, says the process of solving the space problem is at a "brainstorming stage." But a new student center is no longer among the options being discussed.

"There are certain administrators who are very opposed to that," he says. "I have not abandoned it entirely...but to convince people of the need for it would be a major undertaking."

"I don't think that the opposition to a student center has diminished at all," Seton agrees.

Since no new building is in the works, the $25,000 the council pledged towards a student center after months of debate will likely be reallocated.

The council promised the money--part of the infamous lost-and-found $40,000 surplus--with the conditions that the University hire an architect within a year, create a planning committee that includes students and make a timetable for the building process.

"It would basically be a way to tell the administration how serious we are about this," Cohen said in March.

But even as the money was pledged, administrators were skeptical that the "symbolic gesture" would make a big difference.

"I don't think that's a wise use of the money that Harvard had collected on the U.C.'s behalf for distribution to student activities and events," Lewis said then.

With the $25,000 pledge possibly on its way back to the council treasury, Cohen says the council's efforts are better spent finding space within current Harvard buildings rather than continuing to push for a new center.

"If I put all my energy into that, that would be kind of fruitless, and if we can get more space for groups, that's better than nothing," Cohen says.