Architecture Students Ask Clear Role in Gund Plans

A group of Architecture students has written to Jose L. Sert and William A. Doebele Jr., deans of the School of Design, asking them to define the purpose of the Building Committee for Gund Hall.

Jay Farbstein, a fourth-year Design student and one of the two student members of the Student-Faculty-Administration Committee, said the students had accepted membership on the committee expecting that it would represent the Design School in direct negotiations with the architect for Gund Hall in Toronto.

Farbstein said that earlier this week, however, Sert and Doebele had described the Committee as a purely advisory body. Farbstein said the deans expect all communications with the architects to be made through their office.

Farbstein said that when the two students joined the committee, they misunderstood the deans' conception of the Committee's role. He said that the students wanted the power to deal directly with the architects.

Doehele said yesterday that he will meet with the Committee today and discuss its function. "This issue of procedure is based on a misunderstanding" he said.

The Building Committee doubts that the present budget for Gund Hall is sufficient, Farbstein said. He said that the Committee thought the Harvard Corporation would try to solve the financial problem by planning for a smaller building, and that it would avoid providing for changes the Design students thought most necessary. These changes include:

* planning for individual studio space for students;

* checking on the acoustics of the building;