Other masters are equally adamant that the Jordans be put to better use"Harvard should give some thought to doing something to make the Jordans more coherent," Ware says. "It's a funny-looking building that really needs an architectural strategy.

"Ware, who refers to Harvard's current housing situation as "very tight," favors removing the large kitchens in each building and converting the first floors--now almost entirely taken up by kitchens and common rooms--into suites and bedrooms. "If you redesigned it well, the Jordans could probably accommodate 80 to 90 people," Ware says--as opposed to the approximately 50 people who live there now. Currier House Master William A. Graham says the Jordans have done their job as overflow housing. But given the Houses' space crunch and the Jordans' wasted space, they may not be doing enough.

"As overflow space in the face of the lamentable overcrowding that all Houses in the College have to endure, they have served a much needed stopgap purpose at least," Graham writes in an e-mail message. "Of course, few of us want the need for such stopgap measures to continue.

"Others, including Dingman, have suggested that the buildings--if nicely renovated--could be attractive senior housing.

But senior housing may not be the best plan for the House community, some quad masters say.

Especially after randomization, they argue rising sophomores and juniors need the seniors to show them the ways of the House and make incoming students feel at home.

"I've never been a fan of having the seniors be separated from the rest of the house," Ware says. "The seniors are the leaders of the House community. I don't think that's a good direction for us to go in."

No Strings Attached?

But while FAS' ownership provides new opportunities, the original terms of the buildings' gift may make it hard for Harvard to renovate the Jordans.

The money for the original Jordan buildings was given to Radcliffe in the late 1950s and early 1960s in a series of gifts by Susan M. Hilles--the same donor who gave the funds for Hilles Library. Hilles gave several donations of $100,000 to Radcliffe "for cooperative housing" over the course of a few years, until the College had enough money to start construction.

But Harvard and Radcliffe disagree over whether the original "cooperative housing" stipulation would prevent dramatic renovations to the buildings. When asked about the Jordans, Radcliffe officials suggest that the terms of the gift may make building renovations that would eliminate common rooms and kitchens might be impermissible.

"The college is obligated to use the gift in accordance with the terms on which it was given," says former Radcliffe president Linda S. Wilson.

And sitting Radcliffe officials agree.

"The buildings belong to FAS, but they were built with a purpose," says Radcliffe Dean for Administration A. Keene Metzger. "We need to be sure that we honor the terms of the initial gift...unless there are other extenuating circumstances.

"But Knowles says donors would surely wish that their gifts be "adapted to today's circumstances"--in this case, by recognizing that few undergraduates nowadays are interested in cooperative living.

"Times have changed, and I know of no record saying that the Jordans should be co-ops forever," Knowles writes in an e-mail message. "Our goal must be to make them as useful and attractive for student housing as we reasonably can."