It's Time to Occupy U-Hall

Nearly four decades ago, Harvard was electrified as a group of students, opposed to the war in Vietnam, ejected the administration from its dazzling white fortress in the center of the Yard. This radical act of protest began a new era, redefining the relationship between students, faculty, and administrators at the College.

Much has changed at the College since the spring of 1969. Indeed, much has changed since the fall of 2002 when I entered as a freshman. Yet, given the current issues that plague our campus, the time has come for a new student occupation of University Hall—and this time, a permanent one.

Student groups are the lifeblood of our undergraduate community. Yet the College administration is in the process of evicting student groups from office space in Harvard Yard and granting them space in the Quad. Although this move promises to give students more space that will be better equipped and open to more student groups, the symbolic truth is that student groups are being pushed from the heart to the extremities of our campus.

In contrast to Hilles, University Hall lies in the middle of Harvard Yard, which is the historic, symbolic, and literal center of our community. Proximity to Harvard Yard is an indicator of the value with which Harvard regards a building’s occupants—as any real estate agent knows, the key is location, location, location. Given the recent rhetoric about the college’s efforts to improve student satisfaction, exiling student groups to the remote Quad (while an ever-growing administration sits comfortably in the most desirable location on campus) seems counter-intuitive. Should we believe that the administration places greater value in its intrinsic benefit to undergraduate life than that of student groups, which have long been heralded by the admissions office when it courts prospective students?

Undeniably, College administrators deserve credit for investing time, attention, and resources into building a center for student group offices. The recently released floor plans and office assignments for the “Student Organization Center” reflect a great attention to student group needs and requests in the allocation of scarce resources. Yet the location of this building cannot be ignored. If the Student Activities Office is so enamored with the office space that it is creating in Hilles, then it should have no objection to relocating its own office to the Quad to occupy it. If the Dean of the College is convinced that walls that do not fully extend to the ceiling or floor will adequately protect sensitive conversations, then he should have no objection to moving his office to such a space in Hilles and granting the neighboring office to The Crimson. If anyone in University Hall can proclaim with a straight face that Allston is the future center of the College and that locating undergraduate Houses on both sides of the river will not divide the campus, then let them be the first to prove that it is so by moving their offices across the river.

My intuition tells me that logistical challenges arising from the overwhelming distance to the Quad and to Allston would cause the deans to defend their perch in the Yard. Yet if neither is good enough for our administrators, why should either be good enough for our student groups?

Students have been clamoring for a student center for decades, a sentiment that has become abundantly clear as the College has started to pay attention to student life and student satisfaction. While the new vision for Hilles has been carefully planned in order to maximize utility and meet student group needs, there is little question that a center located in the Yard would be more accessible and receive more use than in the Quad or across the river. Converting University Hall into a center for students and student groups would be more than a first step toward meeting the needs and desires of undergraduates. It would send the unequivocal message that students and our interests are at the core of this College and University.

Granted, if University Hall were to be turned over to students, faculty might feel displaced from the site of their regular meetings. Yet continuing to meet in the widely revered faculty room—on the second floor of a student-occupied University Hall—could serve as an excellent reminder to students and faculty of the interconnectedness of our relationship.

Location and proximity send powerful messages. If a future president of Harvard would like to demonstrate that Allston is the future of our school, I can think of no stronger endorsement than for him—or for her—to move out of Harvard Yard in order to build a new presidential office across the river. Similarly, if College administrators would like to demonstrate that the student experience is of utmost importance to them, then they should think about clearing out their desks to embrace a long-overdue student occupation.

Aaron Chadbourne ’06 is a government concentrator in Lowell House. He is former chair of the Undergraduate Council’s Student Affairs Committee.