Harvard Plans Extended Annenberg Hours as College Looks to Bolster First-Year Social Spaces

Harvard College Dean David J. Deming told PAFs during a training session last week that Annenberg Hall will offer extended hours in the fall, according to four students in attendance.

Deming told PAFs that first-year students lack common spaces where they can gather and socialize, unlike the common areas available in upperclassmen Houses. For the time being, he said, he wants Annenberg to serve as a place for freshmen to mingle and study while the College explores more permanent options.

In an interview with The Crimson, Deming said creating more social spaces for first-year students has been a priority as the College rethinks the freshman experience.

“If you look around housing for first year students, you’ll see there’s not a lot of big open social spaces,” Deming said. “All the Houses have junior common rooms and dining halls and places where people can be and, other than Annenberg, there’s really not a lot of dedicated spaces for first-year students.”

The College experimented with extended Annenberg hours last spring, keeping the seating area of the first-year dining hall open overnight during finals season. The dining hall typically closes at 11 p.m. on weeknights and 7:30 p.m. on weekends.

Deming told PAFs that the extended hours had been popular among first-year students, adding that he saw freshmen using the space to study and socialize late into the night. He did not specify what the extended hours will be this fall.

During the Monday discussion, Deming also solicited suggestions from PAFs for creating more spaces and programming for first-year students, writing several ideas from the audience on a whiteboard.

Suggestions included bringing back the first-year social committee, revamping first-year Intramural sports, and using Queen’s Head — a former pub beneath Annenberg that closed in May 2024 — as a third space for freshmen, according to one PAF in attendance.

Deming said Thursday that the College is exploring “various ways” to create spaces where first-year students can build connections.

“I heard from first year students last year who said things like this about the lack of social spaces, and so that’s something I’m trying to fix,” Deming said.

Deming framed the push for more first-year social space as part of a broader effort to build social cohesion on campus.

During the PAF training, he said that the College’s most recent survey of seniors found that 90 percent of seniors were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their Harvard experience, a figure he said marked an all-time high for the College.

Harvard conducts an internal senior survey each May through the Office of Institutional Research and Analytics, though the full results are not released publicly.

Deming also emphasized the importance of continuing student support even after months of budget cuts and the closure of multiple campus offices. He praised the Office of Culture and Community specifically for continuing to provide services previously offered through offices for minority students, LGBTQ students, and women. Those offices were folded into the Harvard Foundation within the OCC in July 2025.

The push comes as the College launches a new First-Year Dean’s Office, which will bring together academic, residential, and other support for freshmen under one office.

Deming said the new office is intended to operate more like the House system for upperclassmen, where academic, residential, and social support are closely connected.

In July, the College brought back Thomas Dingman ’67, who served as dean of freshmen until his retirement in 2018, to serve as interim dean while Harvard conducts a national search for a permanent replacement.

Jacob R. Lozano ’30, who recently arrived on campus, said he has already enjoyed Anenberg’s role as a gathering place. While eating there with his parents, Lozano said three students who he had never met introduced themselves and joined them for lunch.

“That was something that I had never experienced before,” Losano said, “I realize now that that’s kind of the culture of the first few months, I believe, of first year — being able to go to Annenberg, sit with new people and get to know them, make new connections — and I really appreciate that.”

During Visitas, Losano said his host took him to Adams House dining hall, where he saw a lively late-night social scene.

“If Annenberg is to be the social hub gathering center for first years, I think that it should also be open and accessible to first years who are maybe wanting to study somewhere outside of their dorm or their common room,” Losano said.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at mblon.50. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.

—Staff writer Alexa M. Schmitt can be reached at [email protected] or Signal at alexaschmitt.15. Follow her on X ​​@alexa_m15_s.