Dining Hall Size Concerns Dean

The new first-year dining area in Memorial Hall, scheduled to open in late January, will likely be more crowded than the Freshman Union and may have less space for first-year activities, Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth S. Nathans said in an interview yesterday.

The new Annenberg Hall, occupying the first floor of Alumni Hall in Memorial Hall, will replace the Union as the first-year dining hall beginning with the second semester. The new Loker Commons student center will be on the floor below Annenberg Hall.

Annenberg Hall will have a seating capacity of 617 and will initially be limited to first-years, Nathans said.

"It's smaller than the current space [in the Union]," Nathans said. "We couldn't even accommodate freshmen spilling out of Sanders [Theatre] and Science Center B at this point."

The serving area in Annenberg Hall will also be smaller than the Union's, Nathans said, although the new facility will use a "scramble system" of serving, which is intended to make lines move more quickly.

The seating capacity of the Union is unofficially estimated to be between 700 and 750 seats.

The issue of crowding will likely be considered by the executive and advisory committees on Memorial Hall, whose members were announced yesterday by Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68.

Additional Debate

The Union has been running long lines this year at peak lunch and dinner hours, Nathans said, and that problem will probably be exacerbated in Annenberg Hall because first-years will pour out of large lecture classes directly into the hall.

Since interhouse dining will not initially be allowed, the Harvard Shuttle Service may run more shuttles at peak hours to allow upperclass students to return quickly to their houses to eat, Assistant Dean of Students Sarah E. Flatley said yesterday.

Nathans also said the new hall will not have a room like the Union's rotunda.

"There's nothing like that in the new place," Nathans said. "It's one huge hall."

Although there are meeting rooms in Loker Commons, "the strength of the rotunda is that you can just walk by" and see what's going on, Nathans said. In addition, the Freshman Dean's Office will no longer be able to use the large parlor B room on the Union's second floor.

Flatley said that the Memorial Hall complex will be a boon for the dean of students office because they will have more meeting rooms at their disposal.

But Nathans said it will be impossible to hold large first-year events such as the concentration fair in the new complex because of a lack of space.

"It's going to be--different," she said.

And Eric C. Engel, an artistic associate of the Nora Theater Company, artist-in-residence of the Freshman Dean's Office and director of the Memorial Hall Complex, said that after the Union closes for renovations, the company will no longer have space to rehearse and perform at Harvard.

"The nice thing about the Union is that it was a space that was under the auspices of the Freshman Dean," Engel said, adding that he enjoys working with first-years through the program. "There aren't other spaces at Harvard that can be taken off-line from undergraduate use for [a long] period of time."

Construction will begin this spring to convert the Union into the Humanities Center.

Troubles aside Nathans stressed that Annenberg Hall will have some advantages over the Union.

"Without question, Annenberg Hall will be a beautiful and impressive facility, one that speaks in its design and architecture to the heritage of the University, and in its use to its present and its future," she wrote in an e-mail yesterday after-noon.

"Without destroying the essential character of the space, the renovation could not provide for the flexible dining and mealtime meeting areas we have enjoyed in the Freshman Union," she continued. "We have understood from the start that this would be the case; in so far as possible, we have tried to provide in the Yard common room and meeting room spaces for first-year students."

Lewis wrote yesterday in an e-mail that many of these concerns will have to wait until the facility opens.

"On all these questions we will have a lot to learn from experience," he said. "Certainly the limited amount of meeting space is a concern for everyone, both students and faculty."

Undergraduate Council members interviewed yesterday said the inter-house restrictions and crowding could be problems.

One first-year said he is not sure there will be crowding because he does not usually see all the seats in the Union filled.

"I would say at any given time about 200 of the seats [in the Union] are empty," said Ali Ahsan '99. But "during peak hours, you might have that problem."

Brian J. Chan '99, a council representative, said that the long lines may actually prevent crowding inside.

"Whether [crowding] will be a problem depends on how fast the line moves," Chan said. "Given current Union speeds, it's doubtful that more than 617 people will ever sit at one time anyway."

A Quad resident said that lunch could be hard with no interhouse at Annenberg.

"As someone who lives in the Quad, it's definitely going to be more difficult in terms of lunchtime for people who can't get back to their own dining halls," said Currier House council representative Melissa G. Liazos '96.

A Mather House representative said that after the initial fervor dies down, he could easily see a compromise on interhouse rules.

"I think that absolutely no inter-house is sort of extreme," said Carlos D. Bustamante '97. "I understand the need to limit the number during peak hours, like Adams [House] and Quincy [House], but I think they should have a policy much like those houses, that people should be allowed to go in between 12:30 and 1, or 1:30 and 2. I think we could come to an agreement that would be amenable to all."

The Committees

There will be two committees to oversee the Memorial Hall project.

The executive committee, according to Lewis, "oversees the development and enforcement of broad policy guidelines, reviews business operations and provides direction and support to building management."

The committee will meet at least twice a year, in January and the late spring, and will report to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles.

Nancy Maull, Administrative Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), chairs the executive committee. The other members are Lewis; Ann Berman, associate dean for finance of the FAS; and David A. Zewinski, associate dean for physical resources and planning.

The advisory committee, according to Lewis, "working within the boundaries of financial constraints developed by the Executive Committee, provides advice on operational policy questions." It "discusses and prioritizes proposals for building use."

Its subcommittees, some of whose members may be taken from outside the committee, "will work on specific issues, such as Loker Commons operations, ... programming or performing arts issues, and bring their recommendations to the Advisory Committee," Lewis wrote yesterday.

Lewis chairs the advisory committee. The committee consists of Nathans; Engel; a House master to be determined; Thomas F. Kelly, professor of music; Thomas G. Everett, director of the Harvard Band; a student member chosen by the Undergraduate Council (preferably from the Committee on College Life); a student member chosen from nominees of the house committees; a first-year student member; and a student member, at large, designated by the dean of the College.

Regular guests of the advisory committee are Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, or his designee; Michael P. Berry, director of dining services, or his designee; Myra A. Mayman, director of the Office for the Arts; and Michael N. Lichten, director of the Office of Physical Resources of FAS

"The nice thing about the Union is that it was a space that was under the auspices of the Freshman Dean," Engel said, adding that he enjoys working with first-years through the program. "There aren't other spaces at Harvard that can be taken off-line from undergraduate use for [a long] period of time."

Construction will begin this spring to convert the Union into the Humanities Center.

Troubles aside Nathans stressed that Annenberg Hall will have some advantages over the Union.

"Without question, Annenberg Hall will be a beautiful and impressive facility, one that speaks in its design and architecture to the heritage of the University, and in its use to its present and its future," she wrote in an e-mail yesterday after-noon.

"Without destroying the essential character of the space, the renovation could not provide for the flexible dining and mealtime meeting areas we have enjoyed in the Freshman Union," she continued. "We have understood from the start that this would be the case; in so far as possible, we have tried to provide in the Yard common room and meeting room spaces for first-year students."

Lewis wrote yesterday in an e-mail that many of these concerns will have to wait until the facility opens.

"On all these questions we will have a lot to learn from experience," he said. "Certainly the limited amount of meeting space is a concern for everyone, both students and faculty."

Undergraduate Council members interviewed yesterday said the inter-house restrictions and crowding could be problems.

One first-year said he is not sure there will be crowding because he does not usually see all the seats in the Union filled.

"I would say at any given time about 200 of the seats [in the Union] are empty," said Ali Ahsan '99. But "during peak hours, you might have that problem."

Brian J. Chan '99, a council representative, said that the long lines may actually prevent crowding inside.

"Whether [crowding] will be a problem depends on how fast the line moves," Chan said. "Given current Union speeds, it's doubtful that more than 617 people will ever sit at one time anyway."

A Quad resident said that lunch could be hard with no interhouse at Annenberg.

"As someone who lives in the Quad, it's definitely going to be more difficult in terms of lunchtime for people who can't get back to their own dining halls," said Currier House council representative Melissa G. Liazos '96.

A Mather House representative said that after the initial fervor dies down, he could easily see a compromise on interhouse rules.

"I think that absolutely no inter-house is sort of extreme," said Carlos D. Bustamante '97. "I understand the need to limit the number during peak hours, like Adams [House] and Quincy [House], but I think they should have a policy much like those houses, that people should be allowed to go in between 12:30 and 1, or 1:30 and 2. I think we could come to an agreement that would be amenable to all."

The Committees

There will be two committees to oversee the Memorial Hall project.

The executive committee, according to Lewis, "oversees the development and enforcement of broad policy guidelines, reviews business operations and provides direction and support to building management."

The committee will meet at least twice a year, in January and the late spring, and will report to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles.

Nancy Maull, Administrative Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), chairs the executive committee. The other members are Lewis; Ann Berman, associate dean for finance of the FAS; and David A. Zewinski, associate dean for physical resources and planning.

The advisory committee, according to Lewis, "working within the boundaries of financial constraints developed by the Executive Committee, provides advice on operational policy questions." It "discusses and prioritizes proposals for building use."

Its subcommittees, some of whose members may be taken from outside the committee, "will work on specific issues, such as Loker Commons operations, ... programming or performing arts issues, and bring their recommendations to the Advisory Committee," Lewis wrote yesterday.

Lewis chairs the advisory committee. The committee consists of Nathans; Engel; a House master to be determined; Thomas F. Kelly, professor of music; Thomas G. Everett, director of the Harvard Band; a student member chosen by the Undergraduate Council (preferably from the Committee on College Life); a student member chosen from nominees of the house committees; a first-year student member; and a student member, at large, designated by the dean of the College.

Regular guests of the advisory committee are Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, or his designee; Michael P. Berry, director of dining services, or his designee; Myra A. Mayman, director of the Office for the Arts; and Michael N. Lichten, director of the Office of Physical Resources of FAS