Deming, Student Leaders Discussed Turning Zimmer Hall Clover Into Fly-By Location

Harvard College Dean David J. Deming and student leaders discussed ways to reduce Fly-By wait times in private lunches last month — including the feasibility of converting the Clover Food Lab in Zimmer Hall into a new grab-and-go dining option for students.

In a Monday interview, Deming confirmed that he had discussed the idea with students but said that the goal of the conversation was to elicit feedback and that the College had made no decisions regarding a new Fly-By location.

“I don’t even know if it would work. It was more of a, ‘Hey, here’s a problem we’re discussing. Would this work as a solution?’” Deming said — adding that the space had served as a grab-and-go option for students in the past.

Deming said that since his tenure as a faculty dean, he had heard concerns from students who were forced to skip lunch because they could not reach the front of the Fly-By line in time to leave for classes, and that it is something he hopes to fix as dean.

“I don’t want students to go hungry in the middle of their classes. That seems bad to me, and I would like to fix it,” Deming said. “We’re having a lot of conversations about how to fix it, but I haven’t arrived at a solution yet.”

Deming, Interim Freshman Dean Thomas A. Dingman ’67, and Deming’s chief of staff Timothy Smith met with House Committee chairs and select Peer Advising Fellows in two lunches on Sept. 18 and Sept. 25 to discuss the College’s ongoing search for a permanent freshman dean. On Monday, Deming said he had also met with the current Freshman Dean’s Office staff to discuss the search and that he anticipates the College will begin holding first-round interviews soon.

As the discussion about the search wound down at the Sept. 25 lunch, talk turned to improving the freshman experience, according to two attendees.

Deming also discussed with students the challenges of restricting swipe access to Memorial Hall basement — which houses one of the College’s two Fly-By locations and the former Queen’s Head Pub — at the Sept. 25 lunch, according to one person familiar.

On Monday, he said that while he wanted the Queen’s Head to be a dedicated freshman social space, he believed there were “lighter-touch” solutions than limiting swipe access — such as prioritizing the FDO and first-year student groups in room booking and scheduling.

“I wouldn’t want to accidentally make it difficult for students to get in,” Deming said.

But Deming said he would refrain from making any final decisions about how best to address challenges facing freshmen — leaving that responsibility to the permanent freshman dean hire.

“A thing I’m trying to do is leave some of these things open for the new person to decide about,” he said. “I’m intentionally soliciting feedback from people, brainstorming ideas, so that we can present a portfolio of options to this person, and they can get excited about the possibilities.”

In a start-of-year email to undergraduates, Deming named freshmen life as one of his priorities for the year. He pointed to expanded hours at Annenberg Hall and the opening up the ground floor of Memorial Hall as steps towards investing in the freshmen experience.

At the Sept. 25 lunch, administrators also discussed establishing a freshman dean residence at 8 Prescott St., according to the House Committee chair and a person in attendance. Formerly a freshman housing option, the building now serves as swing housing for Faculty Deans. It currently houses the Eliot House Faculty Deans, who have been displaced from their permanent residence by the ongoing Eliot House renovations.

The building also neighbors the new home of the Freshman Dean’s Office at 6 Prescott St.

On Monday, Deming said that 8 Prescott St. was one option for where the Freshman Dean could live but that no final decisions had been made. He added that the dean would have to live near the Yard.

“One thing that I do feel strongly about, is that the first year dean will live on or near campus,” Deming said.

Deming brought back the Freshmen Dean’s Office this year following a summer-long restructuring across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that substantially reshaped College offices and led to the layoffs of more than 30 College staff.

At a September forum, Deming said he had based the new College structure on a format that had been done in “recent memory.” The College last had a Freshmen Dean’s Office in 2018, before then-College Dean Rakesh Khurana folded it into a new Dean of Students Office.

On Monday, Deming said his conversations with students had clarified what he is looking for in a dean: someone who could “knit together” the academic, residential, and co-curricular aspects of the freshman experience.

“This person has to love being with first-year students and love the stage that they’re in, and you know be a constant presence on campus in the dining halls, at student events, you know sporting events, cultural events, all you know, academic things like just be around, be visible, be known to students,” he said.

Deming added that he was searching for “somebody who would run through a brick wall for Harvard and Harvard College and Harvard first-year students.”

“Somebody who just loves this work, who embraces the fact that this isn’t a clock-in, clock-out kind of role, that this is a life choice, it’s a mission-oriented thing that they do,” Deming said.

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at sbc.23. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.

—Staff writer Summer E. Rose can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ser.85. Follow her on X @summerellenrose.