THE COLLEGE

The Hopkins Center, an urgent plant need for decades and a project that has been discussed, planned and replanned since 1929, took a giant step toward reality at the Hanover meeting of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees in late January. The Trustees at that meeting gave their approval to the plans presented by Wallace K. Harrison, L.H.D. '50, the noted American architect; and the way was cleared for moving ahead with the next stage of preparation for actual construction.

Mr. Harrison has proposed some minor modifications in the architectural plans reviewed by the Trustees, and these are expected to be completed early in March. If all goes as scheduled, the ALUMNI MAGAZINE next month will present a full story of the Hopkins Center, with several of the architect's sketches and floor plans.

In preparation for constructing the Center at the southeast corner of the campus, Bissell Hall will be razed at the end of the present college year. It was learned last month that the Army and Air Force ROTC offices now located' in Bissell will be moved this summer to College Hall, where the old Freshman Commons will be partitioned for temporary office use. Upon completion of the new dormitories on Clark Field next year, the military units will be moved upstairs in College Hall, to rooms now used for student living quarters.

The Student Workshop, which occupies the top floor of Bissell Hall, will be abolished for the next year or two, until the Hopkins Center is sufficiently completed for the installation of the new workshop to be located there. The lack of suitable space and the high cost that would be involved in creating a temporary shop make it necessary to put the Student Workshop in mothballs for a period.

With the transfer of ROTC headquarters to College Hall, the social facilities of Dartmouth House will be considerably reduced. It is planned to move the pool and ping-pong tables to the basement of the building, thus freeing those main-floor rooms for card-playing and meetings. The major loss of the large dance hall can perhaps be offset by using the gymnasium's Trophy Room - the scene of many a dance in years gone by. When the ROTC offices go upstairs, the Dartmouth House dance hall will again be available for student use until such time as the Hopkins Center provides all the necessary social facilities of this sort.