English Dept..We Want a Home

Complaints are growing among English Department faculty about the lack of a central building and what they say is a severe shortage of office space for the department.

"We've gotten to the point where something has to be done to create more space," Department Chairman Joel Porte said yesterday. Junior faculty and graduate students are especially crowded.

Currently, the department is spread out in three buildings, with the senior faculty and department chair in Warren House on Prescott St. Most of the junior faculty are located in 17 Summer St., which Porte called a "wretched building" and assistant professor Roland Green said "is literally crumbling.

While the quality of instruction has not been affected, Porte said the poor office have made it harder to attract new faculty with such poor offices. Harvard is "known throughout the country for the almost insoluble problem," Green said.

"We feel very neglected," said Porte, pointing out that the History Department recently has its own renovated Robinson Hall. "English is the one major department where a building has not been found and refurbished for it."