Two Professors Attack Project for Square

As public interest over the proposed 15 story building on stilts grew yesterday, the fight extended all the way to the pulpit of the First Parish, Unitarian Church, where two University professors spoke out against the project.

Calling the proposal a reminder of the "civic irresponsibility" which has plagued Massachusetts government, Howard Mumford Jones, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of the Humanities, declared that the proposal, based on a desire for private profits, should not be placed above the public interest.

Jones maintained that the building would merely be another step in making the Square "inaccessible through congestion and unattractive to tourists." If such projects were to continue, the Cambridge Common would soon "lose all dignity."

Invokes Country's Rights

The rights of the entire country to preserve this historic ground are opposed to mere desire for "profits from real estate," he stated.

Following Jones to the pulpit, Charles W. Eliot II '20, professor of City and Regional Planning, argued that the fight against the building should be directed to the larger issues of civic planning.

"The immediate need is to stop this outrage. But stopping this project is not enough," Eliot declared. "Without planning, we shall be constantly fighting off had projects." He called for the beginning of a "concerted effort by the city, the University, the churches, and the business interests to look into the future of the Harvard Square area."

He also maintained that any gain in tax revenue from the building will not justify the breaking of a "sacred trust." "Shall we sell our birthright for a mess of potage?" he asked the congregation.