“This will seclude Dunster and Mather even more from the Harvard community,” said Shaunaq Arora ’05.
Keller said that zoning rules prohibited Harvard from building undergraduate housing on the site.
Dunster House Committee co-chair Colin B. Jackson ’06 said he hoped for some changes to the construction plans, such as prohibiting construction during reading and exam periods.
“I think the point of this meeting is to show them that they can’t just do what they want,” said Jackson, who is also a Crimson editor.
Not all students at yesterday’s meeting were upset about the construction.
“Frankly, I’m not that worried,” said Jonathan S. Chavez ’05, who noted that he will be graduating this spring. “I think Harvard students are overreacting like they always do.”
“The name, though, that’s key,” he said, suggesting “The Cowperthwaite Palace” as one possibility.
Senior tutors and masters in Dunster and Mather did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
—Staff writer Natalie I. Sherman can be reached at nsherman@fas.harvard.edu.