Harvard's Corner of the Fly Club

-cess to the lawn. He also instituted a policy allowing any College affiliate to sign up to use the land.

That policy is still in place today. "Any member of the College" may book the Fly Club's garden, Epps says. Harvard students, faculty, and staff can arrange to use the land free of charge by contacting Epps's office or speaking to the Fly's steward, the dean explains.

Not many people at Harvard are aware of this opportunity. Epps says the garden has been used about three times each spring and five times each summer in recent years.

The summer users are generally summer-school proctors holding a party for their entryways, says Epps. Recent school-year functions have included receptions for prospective minority freshmen and gatherings of Harvard librarians.

The garden's availability is not described in any College literature, says Epps. Harvard does publish a list of examples of space available to University groups, including the Science Center, Phillips Brooks House, and various classroom buildings. The Fly garden is not on that list, although Epps says, "We should consider putting it on in the future."

Even with Epps's policy and the special lock on the gate, the garden's day-to-day access is limited to Fly members, who use the lawn whenever they please, without requesting special permission. The fence at the garden's fringes effectively prevents everyone else from entering the land.

Why is the fence still up? "That's a good question," says Rosen, who fields questions for the University's affiliated real estate agency. The University's land is not part of the Fly Club, he stresses, "other than the fact that it happens to be temporarily next door."

The University's unusual arrangement with the Fly represents something of a trade-off, Rosen explains. "The Fly Club is given access to it, and in exchange they agree to maintain it. There are no maintenance costs attached to the University."

What does the Fly spend to maintain the garden? Says Charles S. Cheston Jr. '56, the club's graduate president: "There's lawn there, there's bushes, there's trees-I wouldn't begin to put a dollar figure on it."

Cheston says he supports the current arrangement between the club and the University. "I don't think it's unfair," says Cheston, who helps supervise the club's financial affairs. "I can take you to other pieces of Harvard land that students aren't allowed to tromp all over."

Regarding the existence of the fence, Cheston says, "The University is in control of this piece of ground. If they want to take it down, that's their prerogative."

In 1976, a group of students decided the fence did not belong around the University's land. On May 16, about 60 undergraduates climbed into the garden, proclaimed it "People's Field," and held a large party, with Beach Boys music blaring from a Lowell House room and footballs and Frisbees flying.

Fly Club members watched the scene on the other side of a length of string stretched out to mark the boundary between club and University land. "I'm very sympathetic to their point," said one, "but I think running in and doing this is just liable to create chaos."

The issue of the garden's ownership is especially important this year, because all nine final clubs are about to face significant hikes in their property tax bills.

Cambridge is currently in the last stages of reassessing every property in the city at 100 percent of its market value. Previous assessments reflected only a fraction of that value.

The revaluation will enable the city to impose separate tax rates on commercial and residential property. By state law, the city is forbidden to have multiple rate unless its property has been assessed at full value.

Before revaluation, the city generally valued commercial properties higher than residential properties. It was a loose city policy that businesses bear a heavier responsibility than residents for the city's expenses, officials explain.

In those years, the clubs were probably not considered commercial ventures and so their assessments would not have fudged upwards, says Peter Helwig, an official in Cambridge's assessor's office.

But under the new rate structure, state law will require that private clubs be considered commercial properties. The difference is significant: Helwig estimates that Cambridge's commercial tax rate for the year ending next July will be $31.77 per thousand dollars worth of property. The residential rate will only be $17 per thousand.

Already three Harvard final clubs have registered complaints about the new system, says an official involved with the revaluation. The official refuses to name the clubs or describe the results of their complaints.

The leap in property taxes on the University's chunk of the Fly Club garden may be one of the most dramatic in all of its enormous real estate portfolio, since it can claim exemptions on most of its land. It cannot on the Fly garden because that land is not used for educational purposes, Rosen says.

Last year's tax rate was $198 per thousand dollars, on the property's old, undervalued assessment of $26,000, for a total levy of $5158. With next year's estimated commercial rate of $31.77 per thousand and the new assessment of $660,400, the University's next tax bill on the land will be more than $20,000.

All the final clubs face similar hikes. Their old assessments ranged from $38,000 for the Owl Club to $112,000 for the Porcellian (which includes the space it leases to the J. August store). This resulted in taxes last year ranging from $7524 to $21,515.60.

The new assessments have resulted in values ranging from $403,000 for the Phoenix to $1,067,200 for the Fly. The new range of taxes will run from about $12,800 to about $33,600.

The clubs have essentially one place to run for new infusions of income to offset their new tax burden the pockets of their alumni. Their task as fundraisers is hampered by the fact that since they are not public charities, they can not offer tax deductions for contributions.

At the Spee, for instance, most alumni donations come in the form of $40 to $50 additions to the kitty, with larger amounts coming in only occasionally, according to one alumnus.

Some clubs, like the Spee, have toyed with the idea of allowing women to join in order to increase the pool of dues-payers, and eventually alumni. The Spee has also come up with another strategy for finding new income: it recently agreed to lease some of its first-floor space to Schoenhof's bookstore, which is about to be evicted from its current Mass. Ave. site.

Adam S. Cohen helped prepare this report.

Tomorrow: The Harvard administration's links to the final clubs.

Since 1956 Harvard has paid more than $85,000 in taxes on the Fly Club's garden--most recently a $5148 levy for the 1982-83 fiscal year. According to the city's most recent property assessment, the land's current value is $660,400.

Cambridge has reassessed all the property in the city and set new commercial and residential rates. Next year Harvard's taxes on the Fly Club's garden will jump from $5158 to over $20,000.

How Much They Are Worth

The 1983 market value assessments of the final clubs and their land by the City of Cambridge.

A.D.--$1,035,000

(Does not include Briggs & Briggs to which the club leases)

DELPHIC--$1,000,000

D.U.--$951,000

FLY--$1,057,200

(Does not include the 13,208 square feet of the club's garden which Harvard owns)

FOX--$825,000

OWL--$772,900

PHOENIX--$403,300

PORCELLIAN--$851,000

(Includes the space occupied by the J. August store to which the club leases)

SPEE--$746,000