Commons Building Named For Harkness

The Graduate Center's Commons Building will be known as "Harkness Commons" in honor of Edward S. Harkness, the Yale graduate who provided most of the money and impetus for the Harvard College Houses, President Conant announced Monday.

Though he gave $13,000,000 to the University, he refused to have any building named after him during his lifetime. But his window, before her death last June, gave permission for his name to be used.

"The Corporation is pleased to be able, at last, to honor this emminent friend who inspired great development in student living at Harvard." Conant stated in his announcement of the naming.

There are other public buildings named for Harkness, notably the Harkness Tower at Yale and the Harkness Pavilion at the Columbia Princetonian Medical in New York.