Rooms in Reserve

Student groups no longer have to stress as much over reserving rooms for their meetings and events thanks to a new online reservation tool unveiled by the UC this week. The tool is a good first step in centralizing room reservation and making space on campus more accessible to students. Moreover, it is nice to see the UC follow through on one of its promises.

The UC’s website now includes a detailed spreadsheet listing hundreds of available rooms to reserve across campus. The site also conveniently contains information about each room’s capacity, media capabilities, and contact person. According to committee members, the UC plans to soon integrate this spreadsheet into the Computer Science 50 maps.cs50.net interface with help from instructor David J. Malan ’99. The Office of Student Life has also assisted with the overall project. We are pleased to see both faculty and the administration work and support the UC in an endeavor that is bound to benefit the student body.

The project, however, is far from complete. Currently, the website only displays room information. Ideally, the site would also serve as an actual reservation tool where students can reserve rooms electronically. UC members agree with this assessment and seem to be working toward this goal, which is a good sign. They have announced plans to hire a student programmer in order to upgrade their system in the next year.

The initiative is undoubtedly impressive. Nevertheless, the process of preparing this spreadsheet took an astonishing amount of time. The plan has been a year and a half in the making already. We urge the UC to speed up its efforts: Preferably students would not have to wait another 14 months for this tool to be fully functional—the time frame certain committee members have given.

Given Harvard’s decentralized structure, the UC’s accomplishment so far is no small feat. Each House has its own rules and regulations concerning which rooms can be reserved and by whom. For instance, Eliot’s JCR cannot be reserved under any circumstances whereas Kirkland’s JCR is now featured on the UC’s website. We appreciate the transparency and convenience that this website offers.

Finally, the announcement should also help bolster the UC’s image among undergraduates, especially after the election fiasco. Hopefully, this achievement will help the UC regain the trust of its constituents and help better establish its effectiveness as a governing body.