NAVY TO OCCUPY YARD FOR DURATION; RADIO OFFICERS ARRIVE NEXT MONTH

The United States Navy will begin occupation of the Yard for the duration, when 500 Radio Communications officers commandeer its northern portion about June 15. Official University announcement of the extensive plan came yesterday, climaxing six weeks of negotiations and putting an end to popular rumor as to the Yard's fate.

Contracting to use Harvard facilities until the close of the war or until it gives 90 days notice, the Navy is establishing here one of three radio training centers. Each school will have a potential capacity of 1000 officers in staggered six-month courses with 125 men in each section. They will be barracked in Freshman dormitories beginning in the sector of Hollis, Stoughton, Holworthy, and Thayer and ultimately overflowing southward. President Conant's house, which he is vacating after Commencement, will be used as headquarters both for the new school and the Naval ROTC unit. The active officers will eat in the Freshman Union.

Part of Littauer Center and Langdell Hall will be used for class work. Naval officers will provide the majority of the regular instruction with additional specialized work offered under the supervision of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

This invasion will not interfere with the presence of regular summer school students in the Yard during July and August. They will be quartered in the southern portion, while Freshmen entering in June will be assimilated into the House system. Until the Navy needs the entire Yard, Freshmen coming in the fall who cannot find room in the Houses will be given rooms in the southern part but remain attached to some House.

Studied University Plant

Two Naval commissions have investigated the University's facilities since spring vacation and at least three contracts were drawn up before both parties were satisfied with the arrangements. Although the general outline of the plan was known throughout this period, fear of pre-natal publicity and the indefiniteness of the details prevented any earlier publication of the facts. Not until yesterday was the final contract signed, sealed, and delivered.

Use of the Yard for the training and barracking of American service men is nothing new. During the Revolutionary seige of Boston, Harvard was moved to Concord and the College buildings used by Washington's troops. For approximately six months soldiers lived in what are now Massachusetts, Hollis, and Stoughton Halls and in Holden Chapel.

Radio School Here in 1917

Military training during the World War was far-reaching with at least three different groups using Harvard facilities. A Naval Radio School was then inaugurated and used Crufts Laboratory and Pierce Hall for classrooms. By the end of 1917 all of the University plant north of the Yard had been requisitioned and the men had overflowed into temporary barracks covering Cambridge Common. They used Memorial Hall, and Gordon MacKay Laboratory was built for their convenience.

By the fall of 1918 the entire scheme of military training at Harvard had been thoroughly organized. Those in Navy training lived in Weld and Grays Halls and Holyoke House, while men in the Naval Ensigns' School filled Matthews Hall. In Hollis, Stoughton, and Holworthy, now to be occupied by the Navy, was quartered the Junior Students' Army Training Corps.

If, in this war, the Navy takes advantage of the maximum arrangements for 1000 men, the number in uniform under training at the University next fall will be approximately 4,000.