HCUA Requests Use of Lehman To House Student Social Center

The Executive Committee of the Harvard Council for Undergraduate Affairs has launched a last-minute drive to persuade the University to include a "student social center" in its future plans for Lehman Hall.

Dean Ford said last month that he will probably recommend to the Corporation that Lehman Hall be turned over to Dudley House as "a commuter center" when the Comptroller's Office moves from Lehman to Holyoke Center next year. In a February, 1963, report the HCUA recommended Lehman Hall as a social center "because of its location and adequate size."

The Executive Committee declared yesterday that while "aware of the need for permanent facilities for Dudley House, the Council is committed to the goal of a student center, which would best be located in Lehman." William J. Billick III '65, a Council representative from Leverett House, has been delegated to confer with the University on its plans for the building.

Michael E. Abram '66, vice-chairman of the Council, said last night that he hopes the University will "not preclude the use of Lehman Hall for both Dudley House and a social center."

"Dudley House would stand to benefit" from such an arrangement, Abram explained, "both in terms of increased contact of Dudley House members with the rest of the College and a possible expansion of facilities beyond what might ordinarily be provided for Dudley House alone."

The 1963 Council report recommending a social center pointed to a recently intensified "coeducational atmosphere" at Harvard and Radcliffe that requires additional facilities.

In a sampling of student attitudes toward a social center in early 1963, an HCUA committee found 68 per cent of Harvard upperclassmen, 79 per cent of Harvard freshmen, and 66 per cent of Cliffies in favor of some plan.