Why We Need a Student Center

STUDENTS at Harvard have been asking for a Student Center since the end of World War II. It's time for Harvard to start setting aside money to build one. An administration poll last year revealed that undergraduates support a Student Center by nearly 2 to 1 (63 percent).

The House system needs a Student Center.

The House system is incomplete without a Student Center. Extracurricular activities are an important part of the Harvard/Radcliffe experience, but students cannot communicate with each other if their organizations are strewn throughout the campus buildings. Students need a central place for extra-curricular and social interaction.

We support the definition of a Student Center as passed unanimously by the Undergraduate Council in 1988 and the efforts of Students Concerned for a Student Center. As current and former student leaders, we feel that a Student Center must contain a significant and sufficient number of student offices. Second, it must be student-managed. Harvard students can certainly manage a Student Center; our counterparts at other campuses already do.

A Student Center must have student offices.

One of the greatest needs of student organizations today is for adequate, centrally located office space. Current student office space, when available, is almost always in basements, is spread out over the whole campus, is in a poor state of repair, is inaccessible to disabled students and in some cases cannot even be used after midnight. Having offices in a central location, close to meeting space and close to other student groups, would strengthen Harvard/Radcliffe extracurricular life incalculably.

Memorial Hall is not necessarily a good place for a Student Center.

Last year, the administration took the first step toward the construction of a "student center" in the basement of Memorial Hall. Since then, the administration has not responded to student recommendations, nor has it explained its plans for Memorial Hall fully.

There is no good reason to suppose that a Student Center could be built in a place as small as the Memorial Hall basement. The only representative body that can decide whether it can or cannot is the Undergraduate Council. Regardless of Memorial Hall's future, a Student Center is a pressing student need. Space and money need to be committed to building one.

It's time to consult student leaders about the students' future.

We urge the administration to make public the current plans for Memorial Hall, even if they are incomplete. No serious discussion can occur without information, and no discussion can be serious if all the decisions are made ahead of time. We also call on the Undergraduate Council to foster public discussion of the Student Center through a public forum, an ad hoc committee, or another appropriate means.

We sign our support to this statement as individuals. Some of us are seniors. We will graduate, but the needs of our organizations will not go away.

Anthony Romano, Van Truong, PBH

R. Alex Acosta, Harvard Salient, Harvard Republican Club

Jeff Camp, Students Concerned for a Student Center

Adam Cohen, Harvard Perspective

Neil Segall, Greg Nadeau, Civil Liberties Union of Harvard Guillermo Herrera, Harvard Cycling Association

Peter Bell, Cookin'

Kerry Houghton, :Latin American Studies Association

Jeanne Theoharis, Stop Withholding Access Today

Laurie Miller, Harvard-Radcliffe Future Elementary and Secondary School Teachers

John Savett, Jonathan Kolodny, Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel

Ken Lee, Frank Lockwood, Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council

David Woters, Harvard Glee Club

Adam Siegal, Adams House Committee

Eric Kaplan, Harvard Lampoon

Josh Hauser, Harvard Science Review

Jeffrey Bussgang, Noah Berger, Ann-Marie Leshkowich,

Harvard-Radcliffe Democrats

Doug Marx, Harvard Hunger Action

Raul Perez, Fidel Vargas, RAZA

Kenny Schultz, Wade Roush, Harvard Independent

Robert Henry, Michael Lartigue, Black Students Association

Joel Downer, Advocating a Better Learning Environment

Eva Lum, Mark Kuo, Asian American Association

Mitchell Orenstein, Felicia Kornbluh, Subterranean Review

Trig Tarazi, Society of Arab Students

Oona Ceder, Center for international Affairs Student Council

Curtis Chang, Minority Student Alliance

Martha Bridegam, David Barron, Harvard Crimson

Organizations listed for purposes of identification only.

To voice your opinion on a student center, speak to dean of Students Archie C. Epps, Ill. Or call Jeff Camp, co-president of Students Concerned for a Student Center, or Van Troung, moderator of the Harvard Union of Student Officers.

The Harvard Union of Student Officers (HUSO) is a new forum bringing together student leaders to work for common goals and preserve institutional memory.