Student Groups Not Moved From Thayer Offices

After creating a stir last October by declaring that three student groups would have to vacate their Thayer basement offices, Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71 has still not ordered the groups out.

Illingworth said last fall that the move was necessary because it would allow the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations to expand its offices.

The groups—Harvard Model Congress (HMC), Harvard Model Congress Europe (HMCE) and the International Relations Council (IRC)— remain in their offices and members said yesterday they have not heard word from Illingworth on when or if they would have to move.

Taryn A. Arthur ’02, the secretary general of Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) said Illingworth has not contacted the group about his plans for its future location.

“I genuinely don’t know what’s going on, and it’s not because I’m out of the loop,” she said.

Illingworth wrote in an e-mail message that the move has not yet taken place because he has not found space to relocate the different groups.

“Which groups move will depend on the kind of space we manage to find,” Illingworth wrote.

Illingworth announced last October that IRC—an umbrella group for HMUN, Harvard National Model UN, Harvard International Review, Harvard Program in International Education, Harvard Model Security Council and Harvard Intercollegiate Model UN Team—would trade offices with the Harvard Foundation, which currently occupies an 800 square foot area in Thayer basement.

Under the original plan HMC and HMCE would move to an undecided location, possibly in Holworthy basement.

Illingworth did not say whether he would still pursue this plan, but said he was still looking for space and thus had not settled on a specific plan.

“Those deliberations should remain confidential,” he wrote in an e-mail message.

Leaders of IRC, HMC, and HMCE complained last fall that Harvard was favoring an administrative group over students.

“We support the Harvard Foundation, but we’re confused by why the administration needs to move 12 student groups in order to benefit one group that is not student-run,” Michael J. Gilbert ’02, then president of IRC, said when he learned of the impending move.

Gilbert said last fall that the IRC was not included in discussions about how to re-appropriate space in Thayer basement.

The announcement of the move also came at an inopportune time for many of the groups, which were busy planning spring conferences.

The Harvard Foundation, which oversees 40 student groups and employs 15 interns and assistants, would be able to triple their office space if they could move into the IRC offices.

S. Allen Counter, Jr., the director of the Harvard Foundation, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu