Shortchanging the Suburbs

BRIGGS IS BEAUTIFUL," said many Cabot House residents who before last week may have thought they would never see the fruits of Quad renovations in their Harvard lifetime. Indeed, $4 million renovations to the aging Radcliffe building have turned the former pit into a respectable dormitory that might rival the majestic river houses.

But the underlying problem of second-class citizenship for Quad residents has not been dealt with. For as nice as Briggs may be (and some even question how nice it is), College promises to make life in the suburbs even nicer than city-dwelling--to counter the long morning and evening rush hour commutes--have not been fulfilled.

"We are trying to make the average suite at the Quad more spacious than the average suite at the River," said former dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59. Without a tape measure, though, suites in Eliot still seem larger than suites in Briggs.

Claverly Hall is still a hell of a lot nicer than Briggs Hall, and a hell of a lot closer to campus. Still though, what's not to like about an elevator that buzzes instead of ringing at each floor, a wood-columned common room ruined by gloomy slate-blue paint, or a broken down stairway that hasn't even had the missing poles in the banister replaced?

SOME OTHER RANDOM thoughts about the Quad and how nice it is:

When they were considering renovations to the Quad, Harvard officials said they didn't want to do half a job on the old Radcliffe buildings, preferring to accumulate more money to "do things right by doing it all at once," according to North House Master J. Woodland Hastings. But in nine months, after the renovation of Barnard and Bertram Halls, Harvard will be out of money for North and Cabot Houses. Plans to integrate the six southernmost Radcliffe buildings into a real House will have fallen by the wayside. Maybe three renovated buildings will make the Quad half as nice as the River.

And what about the long-awaited Quad Central Station kitchen? Harvard has maintained that it can afford to debt-finance this project because, with only one kitchen, it can fire lots of dining hall workers. But what about the habitrail-like arcade system that was supposed to link the six Cabot House buildings to the new dining hall? Will Briggs, Barnard and Bertram be hooked up to the dining hall while the three other dorms stand alone?

Renovations to North House will have to be scrapped if Harvard cannot raise any more money, at least for the time being. If, as its t-shirts proclaim, "Exile House" is the next best thing to study abroad, then maybe Noho is already better than the River before renovations.

And where are the reading rooms that were promised instead of House libraries? Fox said that the bookless reading rooms that were to be constructed "would provide more study space in Cabot than in most House libraries."

Hopefully, the end of renovations will not mean the end of the five large speed bumps along the driveway out of the Quad Alley. Oh, sure, driving a low-riding car over them can be killers on your axles, not to mention your muffler. But they slow down the shuttle so you can catch up to it if you miss its departure, and the bumps make an otherwise-dull bicycle ride a fun-filled adventure.

Finally, now that Cambridge has moved its bus stops--and the accompanying wooden shelters that kept people warm and dry--from Cambridge Common to the underground shelter beneath Harvard Square, will the College erect a shelter for cold and wet shuttle riders across from the old burying ground? Or will it possibly find a route system that is less complex and doesn't require you to wait for more than 15 minutes for a bus? Don't bet on it. For as sure as death and taxes, it's a long way from the suburbs to the city.