Brave New Campus

Eight of them cling to the river, one languishes near Wigglesworth Hall and three huddle around their very own private library, nearly a mile away from the rest. But if the University’s current plan for new construction in Allston goes through, all of Harvard’s undergraduate Houses will soon cluster around the Charles. And, thanks to a generally constructive process at least nominally involving students and faculty as well as administrators, Harvard’s new Allston campus has the potential to meet student demands and change the face of the College for the better.

As the University moved in earnest last October to begin planning for its Allston expansion with University President Lawrence H. Summers’ letter to the Faculty, his proposal drew criticism for failing to heed the concerns of professors and undergraduates. The four Allston planning committees that Summers formed after his letter, including the committee on undergraduate life, lacked any sort of student representation.

Since that initial snafu, however, the administration has taken steps to gauge student opinion. Undergraduates were assigned to the Allston planning committees, and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby polled student attitudes towards Allston expansion in an April survey—though we are still puzzled and concerned that students were never asked if they would like to see Houses across the river the first place.

But no survey is needed to show that the current state of undergraduate life is far from ideal. One-fourth of the student body is isolated on Garden Street, and students compete fiercely for space of varying quality scattered across all 12 Houses. Recentering College life to the River area by moving the Quad to Allston could fix many of these problems, as long as it’s done right. Any new undergraduate Allston development would need a serious student center with space for College extracurriculars and much improved cross-river transportation, and it would have to be on the banks of the Charles, not so far into Allston that the walk to the Yard will seem interminable.

Especially important is the construction of a real student center in the thick of House life, which will finally provide students with a venue for inter-House social life outside of the final clubs. Student-run clubs will also benefit from more meeting space and larger venues to hold events outside of House restrictions. And with shiny new Houses just a stone’s throw across the river instead of a Tiger Woods drive up Garden Street, fear of getting “Allstoned” won’t keep first-year blocking groups up late at night in March.

We were glad to see that all of these recommendations found their way into the most recent report on the Allston development, and we hope that the University’s Allston planners follow through. All of the proposals on the table are still very sketchy; the Allston campus will really begin to take shape as the details get ironed out over the next few years, and the new campus could yet be a triumph or a total failure. Harvard has the opportunity to create a truly spectacular campus across the river given the proper commitment of time and money; It should not shy away from spending either to ensure that Allston is a place undergraduates will actually want to live.

But we are concerned that the proposal to build up to eight Houses in Allston—leaving the College with five more Houses than at present—is a signal of the eventual expansion of the undergraduate student body. Increasing the size of the College would erase the improvements in academics and student life that undergraduates will soon reap thanks to the ongoing review of the College curriculum. The curricular review’s report has recommended decreasing class sizes, recruiting more faculty and offering students more one-on-one faculty advising. The eight-House Allston plan could add nearly 1,500 undergraduates to flood already overflowing lecture halls. Adding more undergraduates may make sense decades from now with a much-expanded Faculty, but such a proposal should not find its way into any Allston plan now.

Despite some lingering reservations, the College’s new Allston campus looks likely to permanently transform College life for the better. Harvard undergraduates years down the road might actually have ample common space for everything from social gatherings to charity events in new Houses and a new student center. No more undergraduates will get Quadded. House life could well improve dramatically as the average living space per student increases. But as the planning continues past this preliminary stage and real decisions are made, Allston planners must continue to listen attentively to the concerns students have about the new development.

And undergraduates for their part must be willing to speak up for the generations of College students who will inhabit the Allston Houses. Because the only thing Allston has for undergraduates right now is a lot of potential.