The sun., 1897-10-24
DonMIronIEs At HARVARD.
One View or the Erection OF tho Hnndsorns
Now Halls BY Private Enterprise.

CAMBRIDGE, Oct o3-The orcction,of several
very expensive dormitorics at Harvard has
raised an interesting question that affccts tho
economic side OF college lifc and may have an
important influence on the welfare OF inc uhiver-
sity itself. Because of the RAPID grown OF iar-
ward in the last decade, II was FOUND necessary
to increase Tho accommodation Tor students
The old dormitories in the college yard and the
rev outside dormitorics owned Dy tno me- ahlvcrs-
n.y., In 1890, by tho gift OF wafer hastings
Hall, y large and cominodious sruC,ure, room
was obtained for nearly 100 stuuentS, ana IN
1SDI Perkins and Conant halls were built, the
KIT OF two admirers of the university;, since
then the university has caused TO be quit not u
On the other hand private persons, with an
eye primarily 10 Il good inNcstinehnt anu seGond-,
have built several modern and costly halls.
Beck WAS the first d9rmitory OF this KIND to be
and Dunstcr. To-day two very elaborate build.
inss are in process Of erection, one hreproot
ings Bank, the other by the Coolidge estate of
Boston. The first four of these halls have pros
pered from the day of their completion DC De
spite the hiEh rents demanded for rooms, their
owners have had little II any trouble IN renting
them, before the erection Of Beck, lloiworihy
had been the nrstocratic dorlnitory. BclhS
without modern convcncnccs in the way OF
bath bath and running water, It hNd TO y,Siiu yi n, ,nn
locked to this hall, and the demand for rooms
greatly exceeded The supply; ,,or ,,,o VIVA
A young New Aork business man, VINO was
u recent graduate of the university, conceived
the idea Of erecting n building twice the size of
Beck Hall and far surprising it in It the elegance,
and then induced II few popular students to take
| NJ, their apartments IN his building. They were
We'd with Beck in popularity. The reading
| room, gymnasium. and swimming tank were
spsGial features Of Claverly The prominent ,l
| qucntcd this hall. So great became the demand
for rooms that the occupants of the building
voted on the names Of those men who desired
| admission. For the last four years there has
| been II regular waiting list Of candidates. This
year the owner hn! seen fit TO build an annex
which ad Joins the Hasty Pudding Club building
During the summer of 1894 Albert Ross built
| Ware Hall as an investment. II is somewhat
larger than Clavcrly, contains fifty five suites,
and. like the Beck and Clavcry, has bath
room connected with each suite. The price
charged for rooms was less than in the i other
ha oMncr ToH np Me By his GS and
n year after its erection is reported to have sold
i ata large advance In sSptembGri l ab Ill, i,s9t
great expense By James Little of Cambridge,
the owner OF Littlos ,dormitory. It was dc
and, probably, in appointment surpasscs any
thing Of its kind in ths country, Like W~ro Are
great Florenine court in the interior, the stone
pillars, marble stairway md mosaic floors ap-
t" the very Wealthy men b HsG ps
| servants were ready to answer his questions.
| IAN this is very nice and no doubt in keeping
| the university. but what u revelation it would
| be to the Harvard student of Il decade or two
| ago! Contrast with this state of affairs the
college life as depicted in the dormtories
| owned by the college. Sentiment, location and
price are the distinctive features of the college
| dormitories. particularly those in tho yard.
favor. Within the college yard there is not
bathroom in any building, nor even running
| water. except III the cellar. Water has to be
| brought upstairs by the janitor or else by tho
| student himself. Steam heat and electric
| lights. which might be classed as luxuricS, are
denied 10 the college rooms. However. it Is the
need of bathrooms and running water that
| causes the outcry year after year among the
Harvard students, and particularly those who
arc obliged to do without thcm 1t is safe to say
that the college authorities will never dcsecratc
the sacred precincts OF llolworthy, Hollis and
Stoughton halls by anything so modern as II
| bathroom. AS for the othe: dorinitorcs 1t is
largely II question of expense and eNrcdicncy
tings Conant and Perkins halls, have running
water and genera! bathroom on each floor, but
no individual bathrooms or other convcnicnccs
1T Is an interesting question which just now
confronts the college authorities and those in
tercstcd in the welfare OF Harvard. On the one
hand priv ate parties are building maSnifccnt
dents. while the other the university has
made little advance in Its means or
| methods for tho accommodation OF its students.
The erection of the finer dornltores is certainly
giving n false air to college life. and WHILE no
doubt. it elevates the standard of living it
aims at destroying college spirit and the atmos-
versity town. And, too. the lack Of better ac-
cOmmodations for students may be in keeping
with college associations, but 1t is not In
keeping with the march Of progress. At the
same time private parties are each year draw
| ing large sums of money from Cambridge which
| might far better 20 into the college treasury;
seem to be the results Of the wonderful growth
OF the university within the last few years..