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“There will be students here probably for all four years that exist at a Harvard where the River Houses are just way better than the Quad Houses,” Raghuveer says. “And you need to think about how to make that a little bit more equitable.”

According to Currier House Co-Master Elizabeth A. Ross, structural updates to the Quad Houses that have yet to be renewed will ensure that the Quad is not seen as a “second best option.”

“You can’t just leave them until 2020,” Ross says of the Quad Houses. “You have to make sure that there are renovations and improvements that kind of go along parallel, so that when they do come to renovate it—in the interim—there will have been things that we can all do to make sure that they don’t slip too far behind.”

But the inequities that come with the slow renewal process extend beyond the physical qualities of each House and affect students financially.

In a previous interview, Cooper says that the goal to increase House common spaces took priority over the provision of storage space, which will eventually lead to the loss of on-campus storage facilities. Once the renovations on a House are completed, students will be asked to pay for off-campus summer storage through the Harvard-sponsored Collegeboxes or an outside service.

The average cost of storage at several hundred dollars will be shouldered by Quincy students beginning this summer and Leverett students next summer, while residents of other Houses farther down the renewal pipeline may not face this additional cost for another decade or more.

Washington acknowledges that Quincy’s previous free storage was a privilege that students were fortunate to have enjoyed, but she says she sees an equity issue with the loss of that privilege.

“The way that as each House becomes renewed they lose their storage creates this inequality because you don’t choose your House—it’s done at random,” she says.

Students also raise the question of whether renovated housing is indeed more desirable. Upperclassmen previously opted out of inhabiting the new rooms in Stone Hall, and while Washington praises the patio and high-tech social and study spaces created in the new dorm, she adds that students have generally found the renovated room clusters and public common rooms to be less attractive than the traditional suites in New Quincy.

With the timing and extent of any renovations beyond those on the Neo-Georgian River Houses remaining unknown, these inequities between Houses may exist indefinitely.

“The River Houses are about 80 years old, so it made sense to start there,” Bicknell writes. She adds that the completion of Dunster’s construction will prompt a reassessment of renewal to determine the best path forward, but stresses that the subsequent renewal of the remaining Houses is not guaranteed.

“Beyond [the renewal of Winthrop,] there have been no decisions or announcements made regarding further projects. But our hope is that all Houses will have an opportunity to be renewed,” she writes.

—Staff writer Nikki D. Erlick can be reached at nikki.erlick@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @nikkierlick.

—Staff writer Steven S. Lee can be reached at steven.lee@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenSJLee.