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Robert Mitchell
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Extracurricular Spaces in Radcliffe Quadrangle Area Planned
Options Call for QRAC, Hilles Alterations
Cambridge, Mass. - September 12, 2003 - Harvard College Dean Benedict H. Gross has appointed a committee to explore accommodating the dance program within the Quadrangle Recreational Athletics Center (QRAC) on Garden Street. In addition, services currently offered in Hilles will be consolidated, potentially creating new space for student extracurricular activities in that building. Dean Gross said he will work with the Committee on College Life (CCL), and consult broadly with students, faculty and others to consider options for student activities in the Hilles building on Shepard Street
The QRAC committee will study all issues related to the conversion of part of the QRAC into a dance space, including adequate floor area and ceiling height, as well as audience seating area. The QRAC will continue to support intra-mural basketball and other athletic and recreational activities.
Judith Kidd, acting associate dean of Harvard College, will chair the QRAC committee, whose members include: Rebecca Alaly, '05; Elizabeth Bergmann, director of the Dance Program; Thomas Dingman, Harvard College associate dean; Maryellen Fitzgibbon, FAS planning analyst; Deborah Foster, Harvard College assistant dean; Anne Hilby, '05; Suzanne McCarthy, co-master, Pforzheimer House; Cathleen McCormick, director of programs, Office for the Arts; and Leah McIntosh, FAS associate dean.
As much as 50,000 gross square feet of space in Hilles may be realized at the conclusion of a two-year process that will consolidate the current library. Services currently offered in Hilles will either be available in Hilles or in Lamont or other libraries. Given the continued decline in usage of Hilles library since its opening, a time when women were not permitted to use other Harvard libraries, and the changes in the ways students are using all Harvard libraries, much of the space in Hilles can now be reconfigured for other student needs. Library services will still be offered at Hilles. As a "Quad library," Hilles is expected to offer more evening hours, excellent study spaces, reserve reading, and reference support.
Working with the CCL, students, administrators, faculty and staff, Dean Gross said he expects a broad range of opinions on how the space can best serve student extracurricular needs. "The QRAC might well be an excellent setting for our great dance programs, and Hilles offers enormous potential for addressing the pressing needs for space for student social and extra-curricular activities. Both would bring excitement and activities to the Quad. (FAS) Dean (William C.) Kirby and I have been working actively for some time on these issues, and we look forward to the planning process in the year ahead."
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