Union Committee Will Meet Officials

With construction on the now-empty Freshman Union set to begin in less than a week, the Committee to Save the Great Hall of the Harvard Union plans to meet with President Neil L. Rudenstine and Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles on Monday afternoon, asking them to delay the construction and reconsider the plans.

The committee, which includes more than 40 alumni, has expressed concerns about the current plans to divide the Union's Great Hall in to three separate spaces in the new Humanities Center.

Asbestos removal in preparation for the construction will begin Monday, Capital Projects Manager Elizabeth L. Randall said yesterday. The work on the Great Hall will begin in late February.

By April 15, 1997, construction will be "substantially completed," she added.

The meeting with Rudenstine and Knowles comes after months of appeals by concerned alumni. The committee has made more than 100 phone calls and has undertaken a letter-writing and fax campaign, according to officials close to the project.

The committee will be represented at the meeting by its chair, Tweed Roosevelt '64; its secretary, H. A. Crosby Forbes '50; architectural historian Douglas Shand-Tucci '72, author of Built in Boston; two other committee members and an undergraduate.

Although the committee wanted to meet with Rudenstine earlier, Forbes said he had been told that the president had looked at the material and decided the matter falls under Knowles' jurisdiction.

The committee members said that only Rudenstine will be able to halt construction in time for a reconsideration of the plans.

"It is difficult to turn a ship around once it gains momentum," Forbes said. "We have felt and still feel that the president is the only one in the position as captain of the ship to turn it around."

Harvard will likely continue with the proposed renovations despite the protests, Harvard Provost Albert S. Carnesale said in an interview with the Crimson last month.

The Meeting

Some of the questions that the committee will ask Knowles pertain to a promotional article sent out by the development office in the fall of 1989, Forbes said.

The article, written about the importance of fundraising for the renovations on both Memorial Hall and the Union, highlights the fact that "the renovations will leave the exteriors and handsome interior public spaces of both the Union and Memorial Hall intact."

Forbes said the committee would like to know when the decision to break this pledge was made and how it was made.

"We've been told why it was made--but you can give many reasons for anything you want to do.... We want to know how it was made," Forbes said. "What sort of input [does the University] draw upon when making these decisions?"

Phillip J. Parsons, director of planning for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said the article, at the time, was factually correct because the intial plans involved keeping the hall intact.

"When we hired an architect and looked at how the program would actually work, the idea of using the central hall as a graduate reading room soon became a problem," Parsons said.

Officials close to the project--responding to complaints that the project was undertaken without adequate consultation--said this project has been the subject of more discussion and publicity than any project in recollection.

Regardless of whether the committee succeeds in preserving the Union's Great Hall, Forbes said the group hopes to monitor the University's future remodeling plans.

"At the rate we're going, it appears that [this problem] will not be the last," Forbes said

"We've been told why it was made--but you can give many reasons for anything you want to do.... We want to know how it was made," Forbes said. "What sort of input [does the University] draw upon when making these decisions?"

Phillip J. Parsons, director of planning for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said the article, at the time, was factually correct because the intial plans involved keeping the hall intact.

"When we hired an architect and looked at how the program would actually work, the idea of using the central hall as a graduate reading room soon became a problem," Parsons said.

Officials close to the project--responding to complaints that the project was undertaken without adequate consultation--said this project has been the subject of more discussion and publicity than any project in recollection.

Regardless of whether the committee succeeds in preserving the Union's Great Hall, Forbes said the group hopes to monitor the University's future remodeling plans.

"At the rate we're going, it appears that [this problem] will not be the last," Forbes said