`I See Water'

Fast-forward 100 years. What will the Harvard of the future look like? Will students fly from class to class in metal space pods? Will the Harvard campus be an abandoned ghost town of ruins after World War Three? Will people flock from galaxies around to pray to William James Hall?

Anyone who worries for Harvard's future can now rest assured. Psychic medium and North Cambridge resident John Holland, who was featured on "Unsolved Mysteries" earlier this year because of the unusual talents he acquired after a car accident seven years ago, says, "The core of Harvard is safe."

After flipping through pages of various Harvard publications, Holland divined images of what Harvard will be and look like in 2100.

Some of the things Holland forecasted seemed to affirm the actions and statements of current administrators, who view their job as more than managing the day-to-day functions of the college, but ensuring its viability and, in the case of this august place, prominence in the years, decades and centuries to come.

WATER WORLD

A more ominous prediction Holland offers is the increased prominence that water will hold on the Harvard campus.

"Immediately what I was getting, before lookingat a map, [was] something where the water is goingto go through Harvard," he says.

And Holland cautions that he did not mean waterfountains: "The Charles or something is going tobe incorporated through Harvard."

Although he was not sure if the water would bein the middle of the Yard, he said there willdefinitely be a water system flowing through theCambridge campus.

While it is unclear if erosion is slated totake the Charles up JFK Street, alternativeexplanations from Harvard administrators mayvalidate Holland's claim.

Joe Wrinn, director of the Harvard News Office,also sees water figuring prominently in theUniversity's future.

"A hundred years from now I think the campuswill look a lot different, and I think the riverwill basically be the center of it because thereis nowhere else to expand except across theriver," Wrinn says. "I think a snapshot a hundredyears from now will show that the river willdivide the campus the same way that Mass Ave. ormaybe Oxford Street does now."

The University's director of communityrelations for Cambridge, Mary H. Power, has wateryimages as well.

Power sees "the beautifully restored MemorialHall tower ruling over Harvard because WilliamJames has long since been demolished," describingthe tower as an "oasis in the Charles River basin,which is now much, much larger due to the effectsof global warming."

Holland also predicts that Harvard Yard will bepreserved more or less sacrosanct for the nextcentury.

"Harvard will always stick to their traditionalbuildings...I'm seeing the city grow aroundHarvard," he says.

Harvard administrators feel the same way.

David A. Zewinski '76, associate dean forphysical resources and planning in the Faculty ofArts and Sciences and resident czar of mostUniversity building projects, says the Yard willbe the fixed element of future Universityconstruction.

"There is not a building here that will not behere in a hundred years. Nor is there a buildingnot here that will be here in 2100," Zewinskisays. "I think Harvard Yard will look pretty muchas it does now in 2100."

But, Zewinski has a future Harvard Yard visionof his own.

"The new trees will be bigger," he notes.

Much as today, future construction will bedictated by the University's academic needs.

"The physical plant will really follow theadage of form follows function," Zewinski says."Whatever the academic priorities are will shapethe physical plant."

Of course, the world around the Yard willchange dramatically that, according to Holland'spredictions, include "a lot of glass" surroundingthe Yard, possibly in the form of a dome. "It'salmost like we'll come here and look at it like amuseum," he says.

To complete the exhibit-like appearance of thecampus, Holland predicts statues will dot theYard.

"I'm seeing statues coming out," he says. As hewalks the campus during a psychic session, hestops near one of the gates, pointing to thenarrow strip between Boylston Hall and theWigglesworth dorms: "You all can't see them, but Isee statues all along there," Holland says.

An aesthetically pleasing campus might even bedrained of students.

"Dorms will be a thing of the past," he says.

University Provost Harvey V Fineberg '67rejects that notion.

"I do not think you will have a completesubstitute for the residential experience," hesays.

Some administrators actively steer clear ofgaz-F-19REVELATIONSCOURTESY HARVARD ARCHIVESWALL-TO-WALL COMPUTER: While shows like"The Jetsons" and places like Disney's"Tomorrowland" set the futuristic mood, theelectronic revolution was underway.

"Immediately what I was getting, before lookingat a map, [was] something where the water is goingto go through Harvard," he says.

And Holland cautions that he did not mean waterfountains: "The Charles or something is going tobe incorporated through Harvard."

Although he was not sure if the water would bein the middle of the Yard, he said there willdefinitely be a water system flowing through theCambridge campus.

While it is unclear if erosion is slated totake the Charles up JFK Street, alternativeexplanations from Harvard administrators mayvalidate Holland's claim.

Joe Wrinn, director of the Harvard News Office,also sees water figuring prominently in theUniversity's future.

"A hundred years from now I think the campuswill look a lot different, and I think the riverwill basically be the center of it because thereis nowhere else to expand except across theriver," Wrinn says. "I think a snapshot a hundredyears from now will show that the river willdivide the campus the same way that Mass Ave. ormaybe Oxford Street does now."

The University's director of communityrelations for Cambridge, Mary H. Power, has wateryimages as well.

Power sees "the beautifully restored MemorialHall tower ruling over Harvard because WilliamJames has long since been demolished," describingthe tower as an "oasis in the Charles River basin,which is now much, much larger due to the effectsof global warming."

Holland also predicts that Harvard Yard will bepreserved more or less sacrosanct for the nextcentury.

"Harvard will always stick to their traditionalbuildings...I'm seeing the city grow aroundHarvard," he says.

Harvard administrators feel the same way.

David A. Zewinski '76, associate dean forphysical resources and planning in the Faculty ofArts and Sciences and resident czar of mostUniversity building projects, says the Yard willbe the fixed element of future Universityconstruction.

"There is not a building here that will not behere in a hundred years. Nor is there a buildingnot here that will be here in 2100," Zewinskisays. "I think Harvard Yard will look pretty muchas it does now in 2100."

But, Zewinski has a future Harvard Yard visionof his own.

"The new trees will be bigger," he notes.

Much as today, future construction will bedictated by the University's academic needs.

"The physical plant will really follow theadage of form follows function," Zewinski says."Whatever the academic priorities are will shapethe physical plant."

Of course, the world around the Yard willchange dramatically that, according to Holland'spredictions, include "a lot of glass" surroundingthe Yard, possibly in the form of a dome. "It'salmost like we'll come here and look at it like amuseum," he says.

To complete the exhibit-like appearance of thecampus, Holland predicts statues will dot theYard.

"I'm seeing statues coming out," he says. As hewalks the campus during a psychic session, hestops near one of the gates, pointing to thenarrow strip between Boylston Hall and theWigglesworth dorms: "You all can't see them, but Isee statues all along there," Holland says.

An aesthetically pleasing campus might even bedrained of students.

"Dorms will be a thing of the past," he says.

University Provost Harvey V Fineberg '67rejects that notion.

"I do not think you will have a completesubstitute for the residential experience," hesays.

Some administrators actively steer clear ofgaz-F-19REVELATIONSCOURTESY HARVARD ARCHIVESWALL-TO-WALL COMPUTER: While shows like"The Jetsons" and places like Disney's"Tomorrowland" set the futuristic mood, theelectronic revolution was underway.