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Lowell House

Lowell House

Instructions for Reserving the Dining Hall

The Dining Hall may be booked for dances, parties, meetings, lectures, and other suitable events. The standard rental fee is $150. There is a $100 security deposit, which will be returned to you after the event if no damage occurs and if the contents of the hall (tables, chairs, etc.) are returned to their original positions. There is also a mandatory charge of $300 for cleaning up the dining hall after the event, which covers only rudimentary mopping and trash disposal, not wholesale cleanup. Reservations are not considered final until three separate checks for these amounts are given to Beth Terry, the House Administrator. Beth may be found in the House Office in A entryway.

To reserve the Lowell Dining Hall, allow yourself three weeks lead time, at least:

1. Check the schedule to see if the room is available. The room can be held briefly with a tentative reservation while you complete the remaining steps; email lo-admin@fas.harvard.edu to arrange this. Also, be sure to register your event with the Office of Student LIfe in University Hall. All events open to the College must go through David Freidrich's office as well as through our local permission process. See Event Planning Resource on the Student Life page, http://sao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do

2. Obtain and fill out a copy of the Dining Hall Reservation Form. It is available in paper form only from the House Office A-22, out on the wall next to the office.

3. Take the form to a sequence of people for their permission and signature (because of the need for these face to face discussions, reservations cannot be confirmed via email or phone):

a. Meet with one or both of the Masters, Diana Eck and Dorothy Austin, to discuss your plans. They will decide whether your event is appropriate for Lowell House. A good time to find them is at Tea on Thursdays at 5pm.

b. Meet with Matt Pierce, or Luke Parker the Dining Hall Manager, to discuss specific plans for your use of the Hall (phone 5-4946 or email matthew_pierce@harvard.edu / kuke_parker@harvard.edu). Matt or Luke needs to be consulted about moving furniture, salad bars, etc. within the Dining Hall; and about the time when your group may begin setting up. Typically the dinner food line closes at 7:15 pm, and most people have left by 7:45 pm, allowing the dining hall staff to clean and ready the hall by 8:00 pm. You should plan to begin setting up at 8:00pm, and give yourself however much time you might need to decorate and prepare before the scheduled beginning of your event.

c. Meet with Bob Sammonds, the House Building Manager, to go over security arrangements, beginning and ending times, and clean-up arrangements (phone 5-2282 or email sammonds@fas.harvard.edu for an appointment).

d. Bring three separate checks for rent ($150), cleaning ($300), and a security deposit ($100) to Beth Terry in the House Office, as discussed above. Beth will sign the form when you bring the checks.

4. Beth will check your form over, confirm your reservation, and notify any interested parties that your reservation has been accepted.

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