They said at the meeting that the two courts there are unsuitable to run a team practice—because of a long-jump pit immediately behind the baseline and a surface designed for track and not tennis.

But Birnbaum says Gibson offered little assistance.

“He basically just blew us off,” Birnbaum says.

Gibson says the athletic department was trying as hard as it could to allot court time to many different groups.

“We can’t accommodate every request,” Gibson says. “We’ve been trying to make the best of the situation.”

A “Useless” Option

Spies also informed Birnbaum and Gest that the club team could no longer use Gordon during the fall of 2001, because renovations originally scheduled for the summer had not yet been completed.

Spies offered to allow the club team to use the Murr during the fall as long as inclement weather did not force the varsity team indoors. The decision to move the varsity inside would be reserved for the coaches, Spies wrote in an e-mail to Birnbaum.

But because the team could not depend on this time, Birnbaum says holding practices was difficult.

“For people housed in the far river houses, the Quad, and parts of the Yard, this option is totally useless—quite reasonably, no one will risk the trip to the Murr unless guaranteed court time,” Birnbaum says.

Spies also denied the team access to the Murr on weeknights because he said three of the courts had to remain open for walk-ons and the other three were already contracted out.

Gibson says he suggested that the team “could go down as individuals and play like any Harvard student” during walk-on time at the Murr.

Presidential Power