Spacing Out

AT a faculty meeting two weeks ago, Coolidge Professor of History David S. Landes presented an interesting and convincing objection to Harvard's plan to build a hotel on the Quincy Square spot currently occupied by the Gulf station. Landes asked why, when the University is having so much trouble finding places for professors to work, would the administration propose to devote resources and valuable space for what would primarily be a profit-making venture?

Landes' criticism is not only valid, but eye-opening. Until now, opposition to the hotel plan, which would replace the Harvard Motor House, has centered around whether it is appropriate for the University to involve itself with a purely profit-making scheme. Landes points out something which has been overlooked, which is that the hotel would be built at the expense of academic concerns.

Harvard is not proud of its current hotel, Harvard Motor House, located on Eliot Street, and wants to use the recently acquired Gulf station property to build a more attractive, 150-200 room, medium-priced hotel. There are precedents for universities owning hotels--they can be a good source of revenue and a convenient place for visiting parents to stay. If Harvard were simply trading one hotel for another, there would not be much concern.

The problem is that Harvard wants to use the Eliot St. property (where the Harvard Motor House is now located) to build a commercial office building. The project would be turned over to an outside developer and would not, at this point, house any University administrative or academic offices--it would be a purely profit-making venture for the school. It seems that it would not be as profitable for the University to build its hotel on that space; the Gulf station property on Mass. Ave. would not be as lucrative for offices, but a hotel would do well there.

"FOR me a place that's only 50 meters from Lamont and 100 meters from Widener is FAS territory," Landes said at the meeting. Many have tacitly accepted the idea that there is a realm of Harvard which should be separate from its academic priorities. Yet, what Landes' remarks point out is that Harvard's first interest is academics not profiteering; when the two come into conflict, the choice should be clear.

Space is sorely needed for academic purpose. Widener is running out of room to store its books, and a FAS report last spring concluded that most departments were experiencing severe and worsening space shortages. The response of Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence: he would raise the issue with President Bok.

The conflict comes when the University plans to build a non-Harvard office building solely for money-making purposes at the time when the Faculty is in desperate need of space. The administration seems to have placed profits above academic concerns; before it go ahead with any plans, Harvard would do well to reexamine its values.