Tales From 74 Mt. Auburn

In January of 1974, Imani Kazana, a UMass-Amherst Graduate who was director of Harvard's Afro-American Cultural Center, thought her fondest dreams had been realized.

The cultural center needed a building in the middle of campus, and the Sanctuary, a homeless shelter at 74 Mt. Auburn St., was happy to oblige. The center could have the building, if the University was willing to approve it.

But Harvard, Kazana said at the time and still maintains 20 years later, welched.

"Harvard's original story was that there was no space for us," she told The Crimson in 1974. "But when we found out about Sanctuary, the University held it up. I know certain people in the administration began making phone calls and offering the building to other groups. Our neighbors don't want us here. It's hard to find a place."

A controversy over whom would get the building ensued, but as the Afro-American Cultural Center began to experience financial problems, the issue died.

And when the Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel moved into the building-its current home-five years later, it seemed that the Jewish group's 99-year lease would end questions about the building's occupancy for a while.

But this May, the Hillel will move two blocks down Mt. Auburn St. into the newly-constructed Rosovsky Hall. And the administration, perhaps remembering the controversy of 1974, has kept quiet about its plans for 74 Mt. Auburn St. (Sources say the next tenant will be the Harvard-Radcliffe Office for the Arts).

Whatever group ends up occupying the building, it will join an eclectic list of tenants. During its 80 years, the building at 74 Mt. Auburn St. has housed the elite, the holy and the down-and-out.

But life at 74 Mt. Auburn hasn't always been easy. When the Hillel moves into the newly-built Rosovsky Hall, it will be the first time a tenant of 74 Mt. Auburn has left for greener pastures.

Previous tenants were forced to move out-often for financial reasons.

Iroquois Club

The building's longest-running tenant, the Iroquois final club, had to leave in 1971. The club was nearly broke, and could no longer afford the luxury of its own club-house.

Members of the club joined the D.U. Thebuilding went to Harvard for the sum of $135,000.

A club member reportedly named Bill Brasch toldthe Boston Herald Traveler at the time that theIroquois was forced to sell for financial reasons.

"It's a reflection of present lifestyles," saidBrasch, whose Harvard class year could not bedetermined by the University records office."Clubs just aren't making it these days. The trendwill soon overtake the strongest clubs."

The Sanctuary

As soon as Harvard began to consider purchasingthe property, William A. Coolidge '54 gave theUniversity $35,000 on the condition that thebuilding be leased to the Sanctuary. The Sanctuaryprovided counseling and temporary living quartersto what were then called "street people." Manyteenagers spent time at the place.

The Sanctuary remained at 74 Mt. Auburn untilthe spring of 1974, when the group terminatedtheir lease.

That decision eventually prompted a seriouscontroversy with racial overtones. As soon as theSanctuary announced it was leaving, two campusgroups who were at the time unsatisfied with theirbuildings asked the University for 74 Mt. AuburnSt.

The Hillel, then at Bryant St. near theDivinity School, wanted more space closer to themain campus. And the Harvard RadcliffeAfro-American Cultural Center-Which was at atemporary location at 20 Sacramento St. near theDudley Co-ops--also wanted a bigger buildingcloser to campus.

The Afro-American Cultural Center had beenformed after the campus riots and sit-ins of 1969.One of the protestors' demands was help in formingan Afro-American center. The University acquiescedand pledged to help the new groups raise anendowment.

But the endowment peaked at $150,000 and thenfell. With an operating budget in the tens ofthousands of dollars per year, the Afro-Americancenter was doomed to run out of money fast.

Kazana, who took over as director in the fallof 1972, said in an interview this week that shespent much of her time scrambling for more money.

Kazana said she also began to look for a newlocation. Since the space at 20 Sacramento St. wassmall, the group had to hold many activities inother buildings. And because 20 Sacramento was faraway from the middle of campus, the center hadlittle potential to become a popular hang-out forBlack undergraduates.

In January 1974, Kazana suddenly thought herproblems had been solved. The Sanctuary offeredits building to the cultural center, pendingUniversity approval.

Instead, the administration offered thecultural center the opportunity to rent a buildingthe University had an option to lease, 16-18 EliotSt. That building, which then bordered rail yardsused by the T, was in a bad area and in need of apaint job. Now it houses four brand-newrestaurants.

Kazana says this building did not meet thecenter's needs.

So the center, working in coordination withcampus minority groups, pressed the issues. Theyasked for a University-funded Third World CulturalCenter, which would absorb the Afro-AmericanCenter. The obvious choice for the Third Worldcenter would have been 74 Mt. Auburn.

The administration rejected the proposal mainlybecause they saw the organization as a studentgroup. Harvard does not directly fund studentgroups, administrators student groups,administrators said.

Advocates argued that the center, not unlikethe Fogg Art Museum, was a resource the Universityshould fund. But the administration, Ironically,compared the proposed center to the Hillel, whichdid not receive University funding.

Without the hope of a funded Third Worldcenter, the Afro-American Cultural Center hadlittle hope of restoring itself. Kazana saidHarvard made matters worth by mismanaging thecenter's endowment. Things got so bad that theadministration began paying her salary because thecenter had so little money left.

Then during the summer of 1974, Harvard toldKazana that they would no longer pay her. Withouta pay-check, Kazana had to leave Cambridge and gohome. And many students returned in the fallunaware that the center had effectively been shutdown.

"The University really betrayed theAfrican-American population very significantly:raising $150,000 and then feeling as though thatwas adequate," Kazana said this week. "That wastotally inadequate. They never really made aserious and a constant or a long term effort tomake sure that the center became endowed."

"[The closing of the center] was a realtragedy," she adds. "It has served to deny anenrichment of every African-American student to gothrought the campus since then."

After the Afro-American Cultural Center died,the question of who would occupy 74 Mt. Auburn wasanswered.

The Hillel was able to begin renovationstotalling $600,000 late in 1978 after trading itshouses on Bryant St. to Harvard for the right tolease the building for 99 years, according toRabbi Sally Finestone of the Hillel.

And now the Hillel has made another trade withHarvard. Under this new deal, the Hillel gives upits remaining rights to lease 74 Mt. Auburn forthe right to build Rosovsky Hall on the plot ofland on the corner of Mt. Auburn and Plymptonbehind the Fly Club.

When the Hillel finalized its plans to move outtwo or three years ago, Finestone said the studentleadership of the Hillel suggested that theUniversity turn the building into a multiculturalcenter.

"There was a general consensus among Hillelstudents that [a multicultural center] was a goodidea," Finestone said.

But Finestone added that the administrationmade the decision to use the building for otherpurposes.

"The African-American community didn't have thealumni base that could fund a project like[Rosovsky Hall]," Finestone said. "Therefore Ithink the University should take a much moreactive role in helping them find a building."

Some minority group leaders now says they needa center. And they blame the sameadministrators--including Dean of Students ArchieC. Epps III--for not giving them one.

"[Epps] was an enemy of the effort [for a ThirdWorld Cultural Center] from start to finish,"Kazana said. "He was part of its demise."

And Hyewon T. Chong '95, who supports the ideaof a minority student center, says today: "Harvardshould extend its commitment to its minoritystudents as other universities have."

In the meantime, the Hillel is doing what itcan to share its facilities with other groups.

"One of the strategic plans that studentleadership of the Hillel has is that the newbuilding be used by a lot more organizations thanthe Hillel," Finestone said.

So unless the Harvard-Radcliffe Office for theArts becomes a multicultural center, it doesn'tappear that a minority student center will ever belocated in the building at 74 Mt. Auburn.

Abigail R. Rezneck contributed to thereporting of this story20 Sacramento St., home to the Afro-AmericanCultural Center in the early 1970s

Members of the club joined the D.U. Thebuilding went to Harvard for the sum of $135,000.

A club member reportedly named Bill Brasch toldthe Boston Herald Traveler at the time that theIroquois was forced to sell for financial reasons.

"It's a reflection of present lifestyles," saidBrasch, whose Harvard class year could not bedetermined by the University records office."Clubs just aren't making it these days. The trendwill soon overtake the strongest clubs."

The Sanctuary

As soon as Harvard began to consider purchasingthe property, William A. Coolidge '54 gave theUniversity $35,000 on the condition that thebuilding be leased to the Sanctuary. The Sanctuaryprovided counseling and temporary living quartersto what were then called "street people." Manyteenagers spent time at the place.

The Sanctuary remained at 74 Mt. Auburn untilthe spring of 1974, when the group terminatedtheir lease.

That decision eventually prompted a seriouscontroversy with racial overtones. As soon as theSanctuary announced it was leaving, two campusgroups who were at the time unsatisfied with theirbuildings asked the University for 74 Mt. AuburnSt.

The Hillel, then at Bryant St. near theDivinity School, wanted more space closer to themain campus. And the Harvard RadcliffeAfro-American Cultural Center-Which was at atemporary location at 20 Sacramento St. near theDudley Co-ops--also wanted a bigger buildingcloser to campus.

The Afro-American Cultural Center had beenformed after the campus riots and sit-ins of 1969.One of the protestors' demands was help in formingan Afro-American center. The University acquiescedand pledged to help the new groups raise anendowment.

But the endowment peaked at $150,000 and thenfell. With an operating budget in the tens ofthousands of dollars per year, the Afro-Americancenter was doomed to run out of money fast.

Kazana, who took over as director in the fallof 1972, said in an interview this week that shespent much of her time scrambling for more money.

Kazana said she also began to look for a newlocation. Since the space at 20 Sacramento St. wassmall, the group had to hold many activities inother buildings. And because 20 Sacramento was faraway from the middle of campus, the center hadlittle potential to become a popular hang-out forBlack undergraduates.

In January 1974, Kazana suddenly thought herproblems had been solved. The Sanctuary offeredits building to the cultural center, pendingUniversity approval.

Instead, the administration offered thecultural center the opportunity to rent a buildingthe University had an option to lease, 16-18 EliotSt. That building, which then bordered rail yardsused by the T, was in a bad area and in need of apaint job. Now it houses four brand-newrestaurants.

Kazana says this building did not meet thecenter's needs.

So the center, working in coordination withcampus minority groups, pressed the issues. Theyasked for a University-funded Third World CulturalCenter, which would absorb the Afro-AmericanCenter. The obvious choice for the Third Worldcenter would have been 74 Mt. Auburn.

The administration rejected the proposal mainlybecause they saw the organization as a studentgroup. Harvard does not directly fund studentgroups, administrators student groups,administrators said.

Advocates argued that the center, not unlikethe Fogg Art Museum, was a resource the Universityshould fund. But the administration, Ironically,compared the proposed center to the Hillel, whichdid not receive University funding.

Without the hope of a funded Third Worldcenter, the Afro-American Cultural Center hadlittle hope of restoring itself. Kazana saidHarvard made matters worth by mismanaging thecenter's endowment. Things got so bad that theadministration began paying her salary because thecenter had so little money left.

Then during the summer of 1974, Harvard toldKazana that they would no longer pay her. Withouta pay-check, Kazana had to leave Cambridge and gohome. And many students returned in the fallunaware that the center had effectively been shutdown.

"The University really betrayed theAfrican-American population very significantly:raising $150,000 and then feeling as though thatwas adequate," Kazana said this week. "That wastotally inadequate. They never really made aserious and a constant or a long term effort tomake sure that the center became endowed."

"[The closing of the center] was a realtragedy," she adds. "It has served to deny anenrichment of every African-American student to gothrought the campus since then."

After the Afro-American Cultural Center died,the question of who would occupy 74 Mt. Auburn wasanswered.

The Hillel was able to begin renovationstotalling $600,000 late in 1978 after trading itshouses on Bryant St. to Harvard for the right tolease the building for 99 years, according toRabbi Sally Finestone of the Hillel.

And now the Hillel has made another trade withHarvard. Under this new deal, the Hillel gives upits remaining rights to lease 74 Mt. Auburn forthe right to build Rosovsky Hall on the plot ofland on the corner of Mt. Auburn and Plymptonbehind the Fly Club.

When the Hillel finalized its plans to move outtwo or three years ago, Finestone said the studentleadership of the Hillel suggested that theUniversity turn the building into a multiculturalcenter.

"There was a general consensus among Hillelstudents that [a multicultural center] was a goodidea," Finestone said.

But Finestone added that the administrationmade the decision to use the building for otherpurposes.

"The African-American community didn't have thealumni base that could fund a project like[Rosovsky Hall]," Finestone said. "Therefore Ithink the University should take a much moreactive role in helping them find a building."

Some minority group leaders now says they needa center. And they blame the sameadministrators--including Dean of Students ArchieC. Epps III--for not giving them one.

"[Epps] was an enemy of the effort [for a ThirdWorld Cultural Center] from start to finish,"Kazana said. "He was part of its demise."

And Hyewon T. Chong '95, who supports the ideaof a minority student center, says today: "Harvardshould extend its commitment to its minoritystudents as other universities have."

In the meantime, the Hillel is doing what itcan to share its facilities with other groups.

"One of the strategic plans that studentleadership of the Hillel has is that the newbuilding be used by a lot more organizations thanthe Hillel," Finestone said.

So unless the Harvard-Radcliffe Office for theArts becomes a multicultural center, it doesn'tappear that a minority student center will ever belocated in the building at 74 Mt. Auburn.

Abigail R. Rezneck contributed to thereporting of this story20 Sacramento St., home to the Afro-AmericanCultural Center in the early 1970s