“We need to make sure that there are appropriate egresses, no clogged stairwells, fire alarms and other safety measures,” McLoughlin said.

The Advocate has been threatened with displacement before. In 1997, the College considered building additional undergraduate housing on South Street.

At the time, the building required an estimated $60,000 in repairs. The trustees were able to raise $50,000 from prominent alums, including Robert Bly ’50, Louis Begley ’54, Norman K. Mailer ’43, Conan C. O’Brien ’85 and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ’38. Steven A. Balmer ’77 matched that sum to bring the total to $100,000.

The trustees used this money to pay the printing debts of the organization and for repairs to the heating and plumbing of the building. They withheld the rest of the money until they could insure that the building would remain in the group’s possession.

In 1997, The Advocate requested a 50-year-lease with Harvard. The University would not agree to that deal, and the two parties instead settled on a 15-year-lease.

The Advocate has already ordered a new boiler and plans to make the required repairs to the building, Coulter said. A successful campaign to attract new advertising clients has tripled the advertising income of the magazine in the past five weeks, he added.

Coulter also said he hopes the more costly repairs will be covered by a capital campaign this year.

If The Advocate does not repair the property, there is the possibility that they may be forced to leave South Street.

McLoughlin said there will likely be a publication center in the renovated Hilles space after the library leaves this summer, but it is unlikely that the College will encourage The Advocate to relocate to the Quad.

“It’s something we’ve been looking into,” McLoughlin said. “The Advocate is a really old organization and has a great history. I can’t imagine moving them unless they were given some other quality space.”

Advocate members refused to accept the possibility of being Quadded.

“If we have to, we will buy another building. We will not be put in unwanted space in the Quad,” Coulter said.

—Staff writer Joshua P. Rogers can be reached at jprogers@fas.harvard.edu.