Why Address Student Dorms?
University Context
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences occupies 235 buildings of 8.2 million square feet in total - 41.8% of the total buildings at Harvard University. The student dormitories range in age from the oldest building on campus, Massachusetts Hall, built in 1720, to the early 1990s DeWolfe Street satellite housing.
About 98 percent of the Harvard College's 6650 undergraduates live in the dorms. First-years live in dorms in or near Harvard Yard. In their second, third, and fourth years, students live in one of twelve Houses, which are mini-Colleges of several hundred students with dining halls, libraries, common spaces, and extracurricular groups. House life is overseen by faculty and graduate students in residence. A superintendent manages the buildings for the FAS Office of Physical Resources, which pays for utilities.
In his June 5, 2003 Commencement address, President Summers stated that a strength of Harvard is that it is a "microcosm of the world in which we live." Knowledge about the actual effects of the consumption of 6650 students and the correspondingly large effect of conservation empowers students to take action on issues such as global climate change. President Summers also noted that we "owe our students the capacity to engage in an informed and zealous way with the wider world" and to equip them with the skills to steer our society away from inauspicious "alternative futures" suggested by terms such as "global warming."
In accordance with both the sentiments of President Summers and the Harvard College's mission, REP has been designed and implemented to encourage students to "assume responsibility for the consequences of personal actions", recognizing the impact each individual can have on the entire local and global community.