Foundation Move To Thayer Sparks Student Protests

The administration's decision to move the Harvard Foundation's out of University Hall has sparked written protests from minority student organizations who see the move as evidence of declining Harvard support for their concerns.

Three groups--Students for Diversity and Ethnic Studies (STUDIES), the Minority Student Alliance and the Foundation's academic affairs committee--signed an October 5 letter to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles.

Moving the office from the center of Harvard's administration to the basement of a student dormitory, the letter charges, represents a retreat from the University's commitment to "creating a climate of inclusiveness to its students of color and its embracing of the very mission of the Foundation as its own.

"The symbolic decision to move the Foundation to the Thayer basement student offices appears to be yet more evidence of the administration's marginalizing attitude and lack of commitment to Harvard-Radcliffe's students of nontraditional backgrounds," the letter says.

The letter also calls the upcoming move of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations the "culmination" of the Harvard's retreat from dealing with issues of race relations.

The Foundation's student advisory committee sent a letter to Knowles with the "same type of concerns," according to Committee Chair Sanjay Shetty '96.

Some minority student leaders have cited a lack of support for ethnic studies and the 1993 elimination of the Office of Race Relations and Minority Affairs as examples of a systematic retreat by the administration from diversity issues.

But Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said that despite the upcoming move, Harvard's commitment to the Foundation and improving race relations remains unchanged.

"This transition is very hard and difficult for students to accept," Epps said. "We hope to work with them and the [Foundation] director, [Dr. S. Allen Counter], to prove that our faith and support in the Foundation has not changed."

Hyewon Chong '95, chair of the academic affairs committee and an author of the letter, said the administration gave conflicting reasons for the move.

In a meeting last May, Chong said Epps was concerned about possible security problems when students hold evening meetings at University Hall.

"The decision was made a couple of years ago to move the Foundation, partly to enable it to do work in the evenings when this building [University Hall] is normally closed," Epps said yesterday.

But in a letter responding to students' concerns, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles said the decision was prompted by space constraints. Knowles also said the Foundation would have had to leave anyway when University Hall undergoes renovations in the near future.

"The pressures on administrative office space in University Hall has been growing for some time, and I had concluded more than a year ago that we must try to find space in the Yard for the Foundation," Knowles said in the letter to the Foundation's Student Advisory Committee, which was dated October 12.

"Had we not secured it now for the Foundation, it was clear to me that when the University Hall itself is renovated in the relatively near future, only much less desirable and much less central space would have been available," Knowles said.

Efforts to reach Counter yesterday were unsuccessful.

Chong said she thought Harvard has not offered a convincing account of the move.

"If it is true that this move is merely prompted by a desire to renovate, why didn't Dean Epps simply mention that, and second, why aren't there plans to move the Foundation back into University Hall when renovations have been completed?" Chong asked.

"In light of Knowles' record on race relations, nothing short of a written promise that the Harvard Foundation will be moved back into University Hall following renovations will convince me of the administration's good will and commitment."

Shetty, however, said he has no problem with the move because administration have convinced the foundation that it was prompted by renovations.

"While it's nice to have an office in University Hall, I believe that it's because they're doing renovation," he said. "The administration has been very good working with us to try to make sure that the move has gone off smoothly."

But he added: "We'd like to have the opportunity to move back once the renovations are complete."

Other student leaders, however, remain most worried about the symbolic effect of the change.

"Because the Foundation is such an integral part of the maintenance of a healthy campus, University Hall has always seemed an appropriate location," said Kristen M. Clarke '97, president of the Black Students Association. "The sudden move of the office to a basement of a student dorm suggests that its role is only remedial and parallel to that of any other student organization.

Efforts to reach Counter yesterday were unsuccessful.

Chong said she thought Harvard has not offered a convincing account of the move.

"If it is true that this move is merely prompted by a desire to renovate, why didn't Dean Epps simply mention that, and second, why aren't there plans to move the Foundation back into University Hall when renovations have been completed?" Chong asked.

"In light of Knowles' record on race relations, nothing short of a written promise that the Harvard Foundation will be moved back into University Hall following renovations will convince me of the administration's good will and commitment."

Shetty, however, said he has no problem with the move because administration have convinced the foundation that it was prompted by renovations.

"While it's nice to have an office in University Hall, I believe that it's because they're doing renovation," he said. "The administration has been very good working with us to try to make sure that the move has gone off smoothly."

But he added: "We'd like to have the opportunity to move back once the renovations are complete."

Other student leaders, however, remain most worried about the symbolic effect of the change.

"Because the Foundation is such an integral part of the maintenance of a healthy campus, University Hall has always seemed an appropriate location," said Kristen M. Clarke '97, president of the Black Students Association. "The sudden move of the office to a basement of a student dorm suggests that its role is only remedial and parallel to that of any other student organization.