Council Passes Measure Supporting Later Hours for Lamont Library

Harvard College is now one step closer to becoming “a 2 a.m. campus” with the Undergraduate Council’s move last night to adopt a report urging the administration to push Lamont Library’s closing time to 2 a.m. from Sunday through Wednesday nights.

The report will not change Lamont’s hours, but once the council has passed a report, it can cite the resolution as official student opinion during negotiations with the University.

The council championed later party hours and extended shuttle service in past meetings this year.

“Our idea is that Harvard students don’t go to bed at 1 a.m.,” said council member Luke R. Long ’03. “We want to make it a 2 a.m. campus.”

The Council also adopted a report last night to enhance Loker Commons’ appeal as a social center.

The report urged consideration of a video store, a fast food restaurant and a Karaoke unit in Loker.

Council members now say they plan to work to make their reports into reality.

“Adopting these reports gives our requests to the administration some firepower,” said council member Rohit Chopra ’04.

Chopra has been leading the effort to extend hours in Lamont.

He said one of the biggest challenges is ensuring the safety of students who use the library at later hours—which might necessitate increasing police presence.

“They don’t want people roaming around in the dead of night where there isn’t enough HUPD [Harvard University Police Department] presence,” Chopra said.

The report, which passed unanimously, is likely to gain approval of the administration, according to Chopra.

“I’m confident that the administration will be happy to see that we love Lamont and we want to see even more of its services,” Chopra said.

Trisha S. Dasgupta ’03, who drafted the report on Loker Commons, also said she believes the administration will likely be receptive to changes in Loker.

Dagupta noted last night the possibility of bringing a restaurant like Burger King, which currently has a location at Boston University, to Loker Commons.

She forecast one difficulty might arise if a commercial vendor wanted to hire its own staff rather than rely on Harvard University Dining Services Employees.

The council report suggested that instead of allowing in national chains like Blockbuster Video, the College could purchase its own movie collection and “[conduct] operations through [Harvard University Dining Services] employees.”

Before passing the reports, the council listened to a speech from Harvard University Dining Services President Ted Mayer, who addressed council concerns on topics raging from health food offerings to dining hall hours.

“We are definitely moving towards extended [dining hall] hours,” he told the council.

Mayer also expressed his dedication to fostering relationships between students and Dining Services workers, saying that daily interaction with students “makes it worthwhile for a lot of them to come here.”

On a lighter note, the council also moved last night to hand out donut munchkins this morning outside the Science Center.

“Whereas students are cold and hungry, be it resolved...for donut munchkins to be handed out in front of the Science Center,” the bill read.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen may be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.