Cmte. to fill campus vacancies

Provost Robert Barchi has played many roles as the University's chief academic officer, but real estate agent has not been one of them -- until now. Barchi will lead the 12 students, faculty members and administrators who serve on the Locust Walk Advisory Committee, which is charged with finding new houses for about a dozen campus organizations. According to Barchi, the LWAC -- which began meeting last week -- will be considering how to best fill a number of recently vacated properties along Locust Walk and throughout campus. "With the number of spaces that have become available along Locust Walk," Barchi said in a statement, "we have a terrific opportunity to help shape the future of the Walk in a strategic and comprehensive way." The committee hopes to make formal recommendations to University President Judith Rodin on the groups and programs that could be assigned space in the available buildings by the middle of March. LWAC members said University administrators began the process a few months ago when it started performing space studies on a number of University-controlled buildings. Now, the administration is getting the input of various student and faculty constituencies to try to find the best fit for about 12 different student, cultural and performing arts groups. "We talked about the spaces that were available and then tried to start matching up groups," said Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Michael Silver, who is a member of the committee. "There is going to be a lot of mixing and matching," the College senior added. "A building like the Christian Association can serve a variety of purposes." Decisions will not displace current residents, and committee members said they are committed to maintaining the diversity of student life on Locust Walk -- including fraternity houses. "We're positive about the role Greek life plays and it's important to have Locust Walk affirm that," said Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Chairwoman Kendra Nicholson, who sits on the committee. "If you are trying to make Locust Walk representative, Greeks are a huge chunk." The committee is looking to find new residents for the Christian Association building, which the University purchased last fall. It is also considering how to best fill space in the Veranda -- the student center that formed when the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity vacated the house in the spring of 1998 -- and the Carriage House, which currently houses a number of student organizations. University administrators have already said they intend to fill the former Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house with three academic-based programs -- the Humanities Forum, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and a Folklore Center -- although the committee will officially approve these recommendations. And the LWAC will also try to find new homes for about 10 other organizations as well. Over the past few months, a number of groups -- including GAPSA, the Asian American Association and La Casa Latina -- submitted proposals to the University administration requesting space.

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