New Battlefield for an Old Issue

For years undergraduates have clamored for the College to create a student center—and for the past eight years it has been a futile battle.

Former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 refused to give serious consideration to the issue during his eight-year tenure because he felt the Houses should act as the primary social space for undergraduates.

But new Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 is more receptive to the idea of student space outside the House system, and he announced in September that Hilles’ stacks would be condensed to make room on the upper floors—possibly for a student center.

Despite the long-standing desire for a student union, however, Gross’ suggestion that Hilles serve as a gathering place for undergraduates has sparked dissent from the Undergraduate Council president and skepticism from students.

At the center of their doubts about Hilles’ conversion to a space for all undergraduates is its location in the Quad—a ten-minute walk from the Yard and a 15-minute walk from the nearest river House.

Some Ivy Leauge schools have spent tens of millions of dollars on expansive student unions with space for studying, socializing and eating—with mixed success.

As the committee of students, professors and administrators charged with helping Gross decide the fate of Hilles bat around ideas, they will have to weigh the appeal of a central meeting place for students against Hilles’ peripheral location.

The Off-Center Center

Gross says that minimizing the part of Hilles devoted to books could make room in the building to fulfill other student needs, such as study, office and exercise space—or for a full-service student center.

“Why not a social center?” Gross says. “It’s not inconceivable that Hilles could be that.”

The Committee on Student Space in the Radcliffe Quadrangle will help decide what the space in Hilles will ultimately become.

It is already clear that some students are skeptical about the prospect of Hilles being converted into some type of student center.

In the Undergraduate Council’s e-mail soliciting students to serve on the committee, the first sentence asked in capital letters, “STUDENT CENTER IN THE QUAD?”

Undergraduate Council President Rohit Chopra ’04 has expressed strong reservations about basing a campus center in Hilles.

“I think it’s not only something that won’t happen, but it’s also something that students wouldn’t want to see happen,” Chopra says. “The fact that it’s far from everything is an important constraint.”

Gross says he understands that the location of Hilles might prevent it from being a magnet for student life.

“It has the space for that. It’s a matter of whether people want to go there,” he says.

According to the philosophy of architectural experts who specialize in building student centers, there are at least three requirements for a great student center: location, location, location.

“One core philosophy is that the student union should be centrally located—it should be the crossroads of campus, the hearthstone,” says Paul Knell, a senior principal at WTW Architects, a firm that has planned or designed over 50 student centers in the past 15 years.

Knell says that a peripheral campus location might pose a problem for a student center because it is not frequented by as many students.

“If Harvard Square is a popular place to hang out, and a lot of students live around there, that might be a good location,” Knell says.

Hefty prices and a lack of appropriate space make it unlikely that the College will build a student center in the Square.

But many students say that despite their desire for a true student union, its placement in the Quad would mean few students would use it.

“I don’t think it’s a good location. It takes a while to get out there,” says Erica A. Scott ’06, who lives in Quincy House but says she has worked in the Quad. “I don’t think people would necessarily go out there for a student center.”

Gross says that when he talks to Chopra about campus centers, the council president always suggests other more centrally-located buildings.

And Chopra says he does not think that any amount of renovations to Hilles could lure many students to the Quad.

“This idea of ‘if you build it, they will come’ is flawed logic,” Chopra says, pointing out that a minority of undergraduates—around 1,100 out of 6,400—live in the Quad.

Harvard: Hit or Miss

The change in the College administration is largely responsible for the new tentative initiative to build a student center. Lewis, who was bumped from his post as dean of the College last year, staunchly opposed creating such a building.

Lewis long argued that the Houses should act as the centers of student life and that a student center outside the Houses would be detrimental to residential life.

But Gross has presented himself as more open to the idea.

Chopra says that House identity should not dominate student life and is not at odds with the concept of a campus center.

“A student center is not incongruent with House life,” he says. “Houses serve an extremely small population, so you’re not able to have the complexity of a ballroom or a late-night eatery.”

The College has tried its hand at a student social space before.

Loker Commons, located beneath Memorial Hall, was built in 1994 as a space in which students could hang out, study, play pool, listen to music and eat fast food.

But over its nine-year existence, Loker has hardly become a magnet for student activity.

“All one can say, in one word, is it failed,” Gross says.

Gross says he does not know why exactly Loker fell short.

Chopra cites a multitude of factors, such as the lighting, the lack of open space and an unconventional shape.

The University has also had mixed success with building student centers at its graduate schools.

The Spangler Center at the Business School, which opened in Jan. 2001, receives rave reviews stemming from its comfort, copious amount of light and central location on the Business School campus.

Spangler—which is nearly 120,000 square feet and cost $32 million—boasts leather seats, tunnels connecting it to other campus buildings, an adjoining dining hall, a Coop and post office in the basement as well as flat plasma display screens announcing events.

On the other side of the University, the Law School’s Harkness Commons, which was built by Walter Gropius in his trademark efficient design, has low ceilings, sparse lighting—and resembles a 1950s prediction of what buildings would look like in the 21st century.

“It’s trying to encourage people meeting and hanging out,” says Joshua E. Spielman, a first-year law student. “I don’t know anyone who wants to do that here.”

The Competition

Of the eight Ivy League universities, only Harvard, Brown and Yale lack massive, multi-million dollar centers.

Columbia spent $85 million on building the 225,000 square foot Alfred Lerner Hall in 1999, which students and administrators admit has fallen short as a student center.

Dara Falco, Lerner’s associate director, says the building, with its grand glass ramps connecting the building’s five stories, fills students’ need for space for student group activities, but is not conducive to socializing.

“There are no big, large hangout spaces in the building,” says Falco. “If I had my druthers, I’d be hanging out in my room.”

Kevin G. Galligan, a junior at Columbia, says Lerner is helpful in centralizing mail delivery, but that students prefer to go to the library to study and elsewhere to hang out.

Princeton’s Frist’s Campus Center cost over $40 million and spans 180,00 square feet, featuring a patio, an almost 60-foot-tall glass and aluminum facade, a convenience store, an award-winning food court, lounges and ample student group space.

Gross has been doing his homework on student centers.

He says he visited Frist in December, “just to see what works and what doesn’t.”

He adds that he was impressed with its size and how much students used it.

Frist is located near Princeton’s academic buildings and by campus thoroughfares.

There will be a meeting tomorrow in Cabot House for students to discuss the future of Hilles with Larsen Librarian of the College Nancy M. Cline, Associate Librarian of the College Lynda Leahy and the Masters of the Quad Houses.

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.