Co-op J-Term Policy Unchanged

The College administration is not significantly altering its January Term policy for students living in the Dudley House Cooperative, despite an Undergraduate Council position paper calling for a change.

Members of the Co-op wanting to stay on campus during next year’s J-Term will have to apply like any other undergraduate living in a Harvard dormitory, according to Jeff Neal, a spokesman for the College.

“Undergraduates at Dudley House are part of the College’s residential house system,” Neal wrote in an e-mail. “They are invited to apply, like other students, to remain on campus if they fit one of the categories that Dean [Evelynn] Hammonds outlined.”

Members of the Co-op—which houses 32 students and two tutors living in two three-story houses near Porter Square—had hoped that College administrators would allow all its members to stay in the Co-op for the upcoming J-Term.

Michelle E. Crentsil ’10, Dudley House’s UC representative, worked with other members of the UC to create a J-Term position paper, which included a recommendation to allow the entirety of the Co-op to stay on campus during the period.

The position paper was presented to the administration in February.

During last year’s inaugural J-Term, the approximately two-thirds of Co-op members who were not approved by the College to stay on campus found themselves shut out after the College changed the locks on their two houses.

“We’re not used to being told we can’t go into our own home,” Crentsil said.

While the Co-op is technically a Harvard dormitory, many members say that they view living in Dudley as practically the same as living off campus.

“Most of us here see the Co-op less as a dormitory and more like an actual home,” wrote Martin Eiermann ’10, co-president of the Co-op, in an e-mail.

Crentsil said she doesn’t feel the College is saving any money by prohibiting Co-op residents from staying on campus during J-Term.

“We don’t have any Harvard staff,” said Crentsil of the two Co-op houses, which are student-run, with members sharing cooking and cleaning duties.

According to Eiermann, the “long shut-down” over J-Term creates additional difficulties for many Co-op members.

“We must pass regular health inspections, so shutting down for J-term is a little bit like shutting down the dining halls: lots of cleaning, lots of excess food that will be tossed,” Eiermann wrote.

Students at the Co-op said they have also been upset over the College’s recent decision to close the Dudley Houses to students during the summer.

“There’s a lot of resentment from Co-opers that they can’t live there over the summer—and now that they can’t live there over January,” said Co-op Co-President Megan A. Shutzer ’10.

—Staff writer Melody Y. Hu can be reached at melodyhu@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.