A Space of Their Own

At the end of last month, I met with Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II about University Hall’s designs for the disembowelled Hilles Library, which is set to become new space for student groups. I wasn’t expecting to be impressed. In just a couple of months, I was certain, the once-iconic Hilles would be transformed into a kind of inside-out Pompidou Centre with an interior beset by soul-killing bathroom stalls.

I was mistaken.

Once renovated, the upper floors of Hilles will feel like a cutting edge office environment. The plans that cover McLoughlin’s office are exciting in their aesthetic; in the new space, student organizations will take advantage of spacious offices with million-dollar views and practical collaborative work areas.

But, as is so often the case at Harvard, student groups have been up in arms about the plans. Chief among their concerns is privacy; Hilles’ ductwork is built into its cement superstructure and, according to McLoughlin, modifying that system is impossible. As a result, the construction of floor-to-ceiling walls for student offices is unfeasible. The solution settled upon by University Hall is partial walls between offices that create private enclosures without jeopardizing the liveability of the space. The lack of solid walls, groups like the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) and The Harvard Salient have complained, could jeopardize the privacy so central to their operations.

McLoughlin is quick to point out, however, that there will be a lot more to Hilles’ sound proofing than clapboard and paint. Sound-absorbing material in the walls and carpeted flooring will dampen normal conversation, he says, and white noise generators should cancel out the din of Salient editorial meetings. I expect that if one were to shout at the top of his lungs he would be overheard, but for the most part, organizations’ conversations will be confidential.

What’s more, these complaints overlook the most central reason for the renovation of Hilles. Student group space at Harvard is terribly lacking, and the addition of dozens of new offices in Hilles can only be a positive thing for the College’s many “homeless” organizations. In a perfect world, every student organization would get a soundproof, secure office in a central location. But,until Harvard’s development of a new campus in Allston is complete, Hilles is as good as it’s going to get.

There remains, however, the cohort of student groups who currently hold precious office space in the basements of Yard dormitories. These organizations—including the mammoth Harvard International Relations Council (IRC)—will be evicted once the renovations of the Hilles are complete. Understandably, the IRC and other basement-dwelling groups are peeved at being kicked out of their central locations and forced to move to the distant suburb that is the Quad. They complain that the conversion of their basement offices into, among other things, social space for the freshman class—as has been announced—is both wrongheaded and unnecessary.

Part of this argument is spot on. The deserted common rooms in Yard dormitories testify that more frosh social space is the last thing this campus needs. In reality, however, a 10,000 square foot Thayer Hall common room isn’t quite what the College has in mind. Rather, the current plans call for, in addition to some new JCR-like freshman space, expanded offices for the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, prayer space for the Harvard Islamic Society and Dharma, and a new Harvard College women’s center. The BGLTSA resource center (not the organization itself) and college-wide counselling groups will keep their central locations, as will the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO), whose string basses just don’t fit on Quad shuttles.

Kicking groups like the IRC out of the Yard makes a lot of sense. Prime real estate in the middle of Harvard Yard should either serve a cross-section of the campus population or that meet specific needs of specific groups. Student counselling services, a central resource for the College’s gay and lesbian students, a women’s center, and prayer space all fit this criterion. So does storage for the HRO’s unwieldy string instruments, and enlarged office space for the Harvard Foundation, which administers some 55 ethnic and cultural organizations on this campus. There isn’t really any reason why other groups, for whom a central location is not imperative to their successful operation, shouldn’t be expected to move to the Quad.

In the coming months, the upper floors of Hilles Library will be transformed into excellent—though imperfect—space for student organizations. The whole College community, meanwhile, will profit from improved and expanded central resources in the Yard. And while there may well be something rotten in the state of things at Harvard—high-profile resignations and a stalled curricular review spring to mind—it’s important not to overlook the (small) victories for student life that too easily get lost in the ether. The College’s plans to renovate Hilles and reallocate student space in the Yard are promising, indeed.

As for Dean McLoughlin, he’ll keep his office on the first floor of University Hall, even though a certain corner office of the fourth floor of Hilles holds special appeal. “It’s going to have the best views in Cambridge,” he says. “I love that space.”

Adam Goldenberg ’08 is a social studies concentrator in Winthrop House. His column appears on alternate Fridays.