“It’s just very frustrating because we really don’t have enough space for ourselves,” Kane adds about the school’s space constraints. “They rebuilt downstairs and made more student space, but we’re bursting at the seams.”
MAKING DO
At the end of his first year as School of Public Health Dean, Julio Frenk was saddled with the responsibility of finding a suitable solution for the school’s cramped quarters until the University was ready to move forward on Allston.
“We’re in a state of overcrowding that’s really not sustainable in the long term,” Frenk says.
Though plans are not finalized at this point, Frenk says school officials have identified potential space to be leased in Longwood.
The School of Public Health is also exploring collaborating with Harvard Medical School to share working spaces until financial resources can support any expansionary plans, according to David J. Hunter, the School of Public Health’s dean for academic affairs.
Stampfer adds that his department is reorganizing internally to maximize use of existing space.
“Right now, we’re just squeezing more and more people into the space,” Stampfer says. “We can do that for a little while, but ultimately, that is going to degrade the quality of the experience.”
Similarly, other schools like the Harvard Graduate School of Education—which was promised a piece of the Allston campus that the University envisioned in 2003—have had to reevaluate plans to reflect the changed timeline of Allston expansion.
“We are making improvements to our campus through the construction of new classrooms and better utilization of space,” says Graduate School of Education Dean Kathleen McCartney.
Faculty and administrators at schools affected by the indefinite halt in Allston expansion say the problem is not unmanageable.
“It hasn’t reached the point that it’s starting to impair our ability to function,” says Stampfer, who adds that he appreciates the school administration’s efforts to find temporary solutions to relieve the issue of cramped space on campus.
“People are crammed into small spaces and crowded so it’s not optimal, but it’s doable,” he says.
—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.