Months After Barker Cafe Closure, the Space’s Future Remains Uncertain

Five months after the Faculty of Arts and Sciences closed the Barker Center Cafe in response to budget pressures, the space remains sealed off to students by a metal gate and its future remains uncertain.

Harvard College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote in a statement that the College is still considering how to use the space, but he suggested that one option might be allowing groups to reserve the former cafe space for events and meetings.

The Barker Cafe was closed in late April, days after FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra announced that the school would be pausing spending on “non-essential capital projects” and extending a hiring freeze in the face of federal funding cuts. The cost-cutting has only continued this semester, with the school saying it would “significantly” reduce graduate student admissions.

Former employees, staff, and students who frequented the cafe had a range of visions for how the space — a circular wing of Barker Center with expansive windows — could be used moving forward.

Alexandria N. Westray ‘26, a former Barker student employee, said her “nightmare for Barker” would be requiring affiliates to book out the space to use it. She previously worked at the Queen’s Head Pub, a student-run institution that was permanently shut down in May 2024 but reopened as an event venue last fall. Westray said she hoped the former Barker Cafe space would not meet the same fate.

“I really hope it’s open for all campus use all the time as a study space,” Westray said.

Sarah Passinhas-Bergman, a student coordinator for the Committee on the Study of Religion and the German department, also said she hoped students could access the space without a reservation.

“I think that there needs to be at least some spaces on campus, even in the Barker Center, where students do not need permission to use the space or be kicked out by another event,” Passinhas-Bergman said.

Cassondra D. Hanna, a third-year graduate student in the department of African and African American Studies, said she hopes the space could be used by teaching fellows working in Barker Center, especially to host office hours.

Hanna added that currently, graduate students only have access to a lounge and a private office that they share. When they try to host office hours, she said, it can be “confusing” as the events often overlap.

Another former Barker employee Hayden T. Bennett ‘26 said the cafe, which was located in the Barker Center, home to many literature and arts courses at Harvard, was a unique space on campus for humanities students to gather and expressed hope that the space would be repurposed.

“It’s almost too nice of a space on campus, and too important of a space on campus to certain people, to just kind of remain locked behind closed doors and not be of any use to anyone,” he said.

When the cafe closed, its 20 student employees were also laid off. At least three former employees have received new campus jobs at Lamont Library Cafe or Cafe Gato Rojo. Twelve others have graduated, and one was a non-student employee who was re-employed with Harvard University Dining Services.

At the time of the closure, HUDS spokesperson Crista Martin said that student employees of Barker Cafe would have first access to shifts at other campus cafes. Palumbo confirmed on Thursday that any former employee “who expressed interest in a similar role was offered a position.”

Westray was on leave from the Barker Cafe when she studied abroad last semester and said she was not contacted about finding a new campus job. Westray added that she wished she had received more assistance gaining employment on campus when she returned.

“In the fall, by the time I was asking, like, ‘Hey, like, I still need a job. I'd like to have a job,’ the spots at Lamont Cafe had been filled up,” said Westray, who was eventually able to pick up some infrequent shifts at Lamont Cafe.

Others said they felt the FAS could have better communicated the alternative job offerings. Bennett, another former Barker Cafe employee who now works at Cafe Gato Rojo, said he wished the FAS had given him more “direct support” in finding new employment.

“It was just kind of like, ‘Hey, here’s this ambiguous opportunity available at Cafe Gato Rojo if you want to.’ That was like one message sent over the summer, not an actual, ‘Let me help you find another job, because we did let you off,’” Bennett said.