Dude That’s Rude: Vanserg

It’s the first day of class. You haven’t opened my.harvard and don’t know where your classes are, so you log in again to figure out how early you need to leave your dorm, only to find….

Vanserg?

I had many questions upon seeing that I had not one, but two sections in Vanserg this semester. I thought, “What is Vanserg?” I thought, “Where is Vanserg?” But most importantly, I thought, “Why is Vanserg?”

Seriously. Why is Vanserg? And why do I have to be in Vanserg? I’ve complained about having classes in William James Hall, the Harvard Art Museums and Biolabs, but Vanserg is a new distance from the Yard that my legs (fueled solely by Red Spiced Chicken) might not be able to handle.

It turns out that you and I aren’t the only students asking “Why is Vanserg?” In fact, back in October 1982 — before Michael Jackson released Thriller and before Rick Astley promised never to give us up — a Harvard student wrote about this very question. The gist of it is that the government built Vanserg as a radar laboratory during World War II, and Harvard bought the building after the war. Pretty cool, right?

Well, that’s all nice and good, but why do I specifically have to be in Vanserg? I’ve heard of language courses offered in Vanserg, but I’m not even taking any language courses this year! Why are so many other departments suddenly holding classes in Vanserg?

Unfortunately, my friends, I have no clue. I certainly can’t think of many good answers. Biolabs is already a hidden building - now we have to have class in a building hidden behind Biolabs? On top of that, Vanserg is so warm. Even on a late summer’s day, I feel warmer inside Vanserg than outside. I can literally see AC units in the classrooms and nobody is turning them on. Also, why did construction on Vanserg have to be scheduled to perfectly coincide with the fall semester? There is just no reason I should need to enter a building from the basement to reach the second floor. None at all. Also, some sections of the building (including parts of the stairwell) have a weird smell that I don’t quite like. Like a mix of a 1700's historical building and wet dog.

I’ll acknowledge that I do like the aesthetics of Vanserg classrooms. I like the swivel chairs and the amount of desk space attached to them. The second floor classrooms have big, translucent portions of their walls that give the space a more modern feel. And its ability to trap heat will come in handy during wintertime. Truly, if the spirit of John Harvard picked Vanserg up and dropped it in the middle of the Yard, I would look forward to coming to Vanserg twice a week.

But alas, that is not possible. And as long as Vanserg remains on the far outskirts of Harvard’s campus, I will complain.