Squatting in Vain

Who would have thought that students would be so nostalgic for Loker Commons? The lunchtime scene in the Memorial Hall transept makes us suddenly more appreciative of Fly-By’s former location. The current situation—which will have to last a few more months—is untenable, and the College should make a few simple arrangements to make flying by a more civil experience.

Today’s temporary Fly-By “servery”—a line of tables with potato chips and the chili du jour—spans one side of the transept, and a row of squatting students spans the other. On nice days, a few students will sit on the steps of Memorial Hall to eat. This is a far cry from the days of Loker, which—dreary as it may have been—gave students the chance to (gasp) sit at a table to eat lunch. Now University Hall says that the Queen’s Head Pub will not be complete until sometime in the spring, delaying the day that Fly-By can return to Loker.

The construction delays are unfortunate but unavoidable given the necessity of switching architectural firms and the discovery of lead paint in the Memorial Hall basement. But Loker’s closing—and the subsequent delays in its reopening—has side effects besides not being able to get late-night grub and suds. In the past, freshmen have used Loker as a hangout and study spot, and upperclassmen, especially those unable to trek back to their own houses for lunch, have congregated in Loker to grab Fly-By and catch up on work. While we sympathize with the freshmen who have lost use of this space, they have a number of other options—namely their own nearby dorm rooms and many newly renovated freshman common rooms. Upperclassmen, meanwhile, simply have no place to eat lunch in vicinity of the Yard.

For starters, they could use a place to sit, and the most obvious solution—Annenberg—is overflowing with freshmen. But there are other spaces nearby that should be open for midday student use. While not the sexiest location, vacant classrooms beneath Sanders Theatre should be used for lunchtime seating. If that is insufficient for the number of diners, the Freshman Dean’s Office should open the newly renovated freshman common rooms—especially in nearby dorms like Holworthy, Thayer, and Canaday—to upperclassmen during lunch hours. These spaces should be sufficiently large to allow the lunchtime masses to rest their feet for a brief moment.

There is something more fundamentally problematic, however, about using the Memorial Hall transept for Fly-By than just its absence of seating. As former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 pointed out in a letter to The Crimson, the transept is a memorial to those Harvardians who lost their lives fighting for the Union in the Civil War. Using it to serve food is disrespectful. We suggest that Fly-By’s serving area be moved to a compact space at the back of Annenberg Hall, near the statues of John Winthrop and John Adams, a location that would allow upperclassmen to enter and exit Fly-By through Annenberg’s rear doors.

Squatting on a marble floor for lunch may not be the most comfortable option, but serving lunch in the middle of a war memorial is simply disrespectful. Both must change.