Radcliffe May Turn Cronkhite Into Offices

Administrators from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study confirmed last night that they may soon convert a large portion of the Cronkhite Graduate Center into office space, at a meeting attended by nearly 75 disgruntled graduate students who oppose the plan.

Cronkhite currently houses almost 150 graduate students from several Harvard schools.

"We have needs, programmatic objectives...and we need this space for the Institute," said John O. Horst, director of facilities, administrative and technology services at the Institute, who chaired the meeting. "There is no other significant space available to us. It's hard for me to imagine something that doesn't involve Cronkhite in some sense."

Horst said Radcliffe is seriously considering converting a number of Cronkhite dorm rooms into office space for its Bunting Fellowship Program and other Institute faculty and fellows.

Horst explained the various renovations being considered. The most dramatic would convert nearly 70 dorm rooms into office space, with construction beginning in the next academic year.

When he opened the floor, Horst and A. Keene Metzger '67, Radcliffe's dean for administration, were barraged with impassioned monologues from Cronkhite residents, all of whom criticized Radcliffe for the plans.

"This is terrible, disgusting," one student said. "I'm so upset, my blood is boiling. This is serious business."

Cronkhite houses 141 graduate students from the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education and the Graduate School of Design. It is located past the Loeb Drama Center on the corner of Brattle and Ash Streets.

As Radcliffe steams ahead in its metamorphosis from college to an institute primarily focused on research, Horst said housing graduate students from different Harvard schools is not among the Institute's primary concerns.

"The priorities of the Institute are higher than housing students, especially students that are not the Institute's," Horst said.

Residents emphasized the unique living experience Cronkhite offers graduate students and expressed horror at disrupting a community for the sake of non-student researchers.

"All of us are feeling worried about our situation and losing our homes," said a Cronkhite resident.

Horst and Metzger said they were impressed with the students' outpouring of affection for Cronkhite.

"I am touched by the affection you have for this place and for each other," Metzger said. "I don't know what to do with it, but it's important and it's new to me."

Residents said they felt excluded from the discussions that will decide the future of the building. Some said they would like to form a committee that could discuss space options with the Institute.

Alexander N. Skinner, a Cronkhite resident and a key organizer of last night's meeting, said the residents of Cronkhite will not passively accept a Radcliffe decision that might jeopardize their homes.

"We'd like to work with Radcliffe to come to some solution. I feel really strongly about this," he said. "It's important that people think about what the point of Harvard is."

Horst said that the Institute has hired an architectural firm to explore the possibilities of renovating Cronkhite and other Radcliffe buildings. He said that the Cronkhite cafeteria will most likely remain unchanged. But he said the dorm rooms which are not converted into office space will probably be renovated.

Horst said Radcliffe will not make any final decisions about the Cronkhite Center until May.