Melting Snow Prompts Writing Center To Relocate Offices

After a series of winter storms, water damage to the Barker Center basement caused by melting ice and snow has prompted the Harvard College Writing Center to relocate its offices temporarily.

The Writing Center's tutors will hold conferences and weeknight drop-in hours in Lamont Library B40 starting Monday and until further notice, according to an email sent to undergraduates on Friday. This temporary location change will likely be for three to four weeks, according to Writing Center Director Jane Rosenzweig.

Tourists walk around Sever Hall beside towering snow piles. By Michelle Y. Ko

“The reason we said that we have relocated ‘until further notice’ is that we don't have an exact date yet when repairs will be finished,” Rosenzweig wrote in an email Sunday. “It's my understanding that the weather is a variable in dealing with leaks caused by snow and ice, and once the roof has been taken care of, they will have to repair the offices.”

Rosenzweig called the damage to the ceilings and walls of the basement “pretty extensive” and wrote that it “happened quickly.” She added that the leaks started after the storms on Feb. 9 and 10.

“By mid-day on February 11, water was running down the wall of my office and coming through the light fixture in the middle of the office,” she wrote. “The tutor offices also had water coming down on the floor and the furniture. Luckily, all of this happened during the day while we were at work, so we were able to pack everything into boxes and move the boxes out so that nothing would get damaged.”

The Writing Center shares a hallway with offices that belong to the Comparative Literature department. Those offices were also damaged, and all the offices will be repaired at the same time, according to Rosenzweig.

—Staff writer Melissa C. Rodman can be reached at melissa.rodman@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @melissa_rodman.