With plans for Allston still in the theoretical realm, the spotlight turns to the North Yard area, as Harvard expands onto neighboring Agassiz from all sides.

But unlike the planning processes of FAS sciences, those of HLS are just that—planning. No ground has yet been broken, but HLS planners see this as an opportunity to consult with the neighborhood before building anything.

“So far everything has gone very well,” Kagan adds. “We have worked very hard to get off onto the right foot and are making extensive efforts that engage them in our planning processes.”

For the Law School, the quiet, upper-middle-class Agassiz neighborhood has been a beloved home for many decades.

“Agassiz has been our home forever, and we have a deep interest in the community,” says Kagan, who is confident in HLS’s efforts to woo Agassiz neighbors, especially in comparison with FAS science, which has far more difficult tasks such as convincing neighbors to accept a new underground facility for storing about 60,000 mice.

“From the neighbor’s point of view, the only thing worse than lawyers is rats,” she quips.

Compared with a few years ago, Law professors are more open to moving across the river into Allston and leaving their precious 02138 zip code in the dust.

“There has been remarkably little talk about it,” says Beneficial Professor of Law Charles Fried.

The Stadium Stays

In a memo sent on college space needs sent to Spiegelman earlier this year, outgoing Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 argues that athletic fields should stay where they are, saying that “the location of our athletic facilities is one of our greatest distinctions.”

But planners still eye the athletic fields as prime property in Allston.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the nicest land over in Allston is the athletic fields along the river,” says FAS Associate Dean for Physical Resources and Planning David A. Zewinski ’76.

Lewis took issue with the Law School’s argument that they need to stay close to the Yard and FAS.

“It was amusing to hear that the Law School was arguing that contiguity to the College was important, given that its faculty has offered much less to the College even than the Medical School faculty,” Lewis wrote in the memo.

But unlike Lewis, some planners are open to the idea of sacrificing the athletic fields for building expansion.