FAS Gym Holds Untapped Space

It could be a student center. It could be an admissions office.

But instead, Hemenway Gymnasium remains an athletic facility with twisting, shadowy hallways, a dank weight room next to a hissing furnace and smaller-than-regulation-size squash courts. Hemenway makes the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) look cutting edge.

Located a few hundred yards from the Science Center, Hemenway is the kind of prime real estate that money can't buy.

"Space in close proximity to Harvard Yard is more valuable than money," says David A. Zewinski '76, associate dean for physical resources and planning in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

Even though Hemenway is used almost exclusively by Law School students and faculty members, there is no formal agreement between FAS and the Law School that guarantees the space must be used as a gym.

FAS owns the building and could put it to any use it chooses.

And while FAS seriously considered moving the office of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid to a converted Hemenway space in 1998, the building has remained an under-utilized gym despite the College's serious space crunch.

Bare Bones Facilities

While Hemenway used to be home to Harvard's varsity squash team, it lost its last real connection to undergraduates when the Murr Center opened with new, regulation-size squash courts in 1998.

Few undergraduates have taken advantage of the space since then. On a recent day, the ID checker's log at Hemenway showed that 8 College students, 13 faculty members and more than 50 law students had used the gym.

Since the building is not used by many of its students, FAS has done the bare minimum to maintain the facility.

"We've kept it safe, sanitary and code compliant," Zewinski says.

And law students agree that the facilities are poor. A survey administered by the Law School last year identified poor athletic facilities as a primary concern of its students.

With FAS unwilling to invest in a facility that its students don't use, some Law School students say Hemenway users are given short shrift.

"The turf war resulting from Harvard University's decentralization has delayed even the most obvious physical plant improvements," says Marc Lindemann, the Law School's intramural squash coordinator. "This infighting has hurt law students, who now are stuck with a mediocre gym whose infrastructure is falling apart and whose equipment is inadequate."

The Space Crunch

But while Hemenway has become less and less usable, a growing College has been forced to squeeze itself into cramped quarters.

The number of student groups has almost tripled from 90 in 1980 to 241 two years ago, according to a recent Dean of Students' office report.

As a result, student groups are squashed in the basements of Thayer and Holworthy Halls, while other groups are relegated to keeping their materials in Loker Commons lockers.

But Zewinski still says FAS has chosen not to develop the space because there has been no pressing need.

"If a pressing academic priority arose, we might consider converting Hemenway into something different," Zewinski says. "There wasn't any high priority need to invest in Hemenway."

And Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles says the number of ongoing renovation projects has made it difficult to embark on new initiatives.

"There's a limit on how many projects we can manage at once! For classrooms, we've just finished a major renovation of Harvard Hall and Holden Chapel, and Lowell wasn't so long ago," Knowles writes in an e-mail message.

He says he is still well aware of space shortages--and the value of Hemenway as a nearby FAS property.

"For classrooms and meeting rooms especially, we must capture every square inch so that we avoid too much running to and fro, particularly between classes and for student functions," Knowles writes.

Few space-hungry student groups seem aware of Hemenway's relative availability, however. Even Samuel C. Cohen '00, who headed the Undergraduate Council's space task force, said he was completely unaware that the Law School has no official claims to Hemenway.

But he said the space would make a perfect student center--"gorgeous, and at the same time very close."

"I'm a fan of giving student space just about anywhere we can scrounge it up," he said.

Admissions and a Changing Radcliffe

In fact, FAS came very close to converting Hemenway to an office space for admissions and financial aid in 1998.

Harvard even went so far as to present a Hemenway renovation proposal to Cambridge Historical Commission in a 1998 informational meeting.

But while Harvard's representative at the meeting told the commission that Harvard would "probably return" that May with a formal application, Harvard never came back.

Instead, FAS renegotiated a lease on Byerly Hall with Radcliffe--then still a college. The lease has now been extended so that the admissions office can remain in the building until Jan. 1, 2006.

But FAS is paying rent for use of Byerly, and time on the lease is running out--Acting Dean of the Radcliffe Institute Mary Maples Dunn, has indicated the College's current contract for Byerly is most likely its last.

"The sooner Dean Knowles makes a move, the more I'll like it," she says. "He's guaranteed a time in Byerly to help him discover a [different] space."

And a renovated Hemenway might be just the place for admissions after the Radcliffe Institute takes over Byerly.

Located in an area close to the Yard with plenty of trees and grass, Hemenway has all the attributes of a good admissions office location.

"It's easily found, a nice location and its a safe environment. Those are a lot of redeeming qualities," Zewinski says.

Though a renovated Hemenway would be too small to house the admissions offices of both the College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, says there's no need for the two offices to be together.

"Together we filled [Byerly] nicely, but that's an accident of history. We don't share computers, or personnel. We're happily ensconced neighbors, period," she says.

Lewis calls Hemenway a "wonderful space that would work for us," and says Hemenway would be a "great option for admissions and financial aid."

The Law School's Courts

While undergraduates and FAS officials could all use the Hemenway space, the Law School would love to own the building outright.

"We'd like to purchase Hemenway," Dean of the Law School Robert C. Clark said.

Clark said when FAS considered taking the building for office space two years ago, students were very upset. He said there is also a "small number of devoted faculty" who are very attached to the Hemenway and its squash courts, including Dean of the Kennedy School of Government Joseph S. Nye.

"I have played squash at Hemenway for nearly forty years and would greatly regret its closing," Nye says.

While FAS has kept its cash out of Hemenway, the Law School began a $150,000 project last week to purchase new cardiovascular equipment and turn two squash courts into a new weight room.

FAS gave permission for the Law school's improvements--but with the stipulation that the Law School may still be asked to leave Hemenway in the near future.

"We've allowed the Law School to go forward," Zewinski says. "They know full well that it might be made into a different space."

And despite the recent renovations, the Law School is already exploring other options in case that time comes soon.

The school's committee on institutional life is considering plans for a new athletic facility and will recommend a solution to the gym space problem by the beginning of next semester.

Any plan for a new athletic facility would most likely come to a vote before the Law School faculty.

Law School News Officer Michael J. Chmura says several solutions to the problem have been proposed, from purchasing Hemenway to including an athletic facility in Harkness Commons at the Law School to providing law students with passes to Bally's in Porter Square.

Lindemann says "rumors have even circulated that the law school is considering building a gym over Three Aces," a pizza parlor behind the Law School.

The Sun Sets on Hemenway

Charles M. Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, says there is still plenty of time for FAS to get the permits required to convert Hemenway into an admissions office before its contract for Byerly expires.

Radcliffe has expressed its intention to use Byerly for its fellows and the admissions office will almost certainly need to move before 2006.

And despite students repeated pleas for more space, the College has done little to create more office space for students, claiming there are too few buildings close to the Yard.

But just a stone's throw from the Yard, Hemenway sits with peeling paint, outdated equipment and a hole in its gym floor.

"We don't want to put a lot of money into something and end up wasting it when we convert," Zewinski says.