Homeless People Displaced as Harvard Restricts Overnight Smith Center Access

Shawn A. Boehmer and Claire A. Michal:

Harvard has begun restricting access to the plaza outside the Smith Campus Center outside of the building’s operating hours, displacing homeless residents who have regularly stayed there overnight.

The Smith Center plaza, which contains dozens of tables and chairs, has historically been open to the public 24 hours a day. Over the summer, however, building staff began taping off the area after the Smith Center closed at 10 p.m.

Then, in September, staff began further restricting seating on the plaza by tying the tables and chairs together, rendering them unusable overnight. Seven Cambridge residents who frequent the Smith Center plaza at night — including three who once regularly slept there overnight — said they had never before seen access to the plaza restricted overnight.

People who remain on the plaza after the Smith Center closes are told they must leave by midnight and cannot return until 7 a.m. Those who remain after being told to leave could be removed by the Harvard University Police Department or arrested if they refuse to comply.

Richard P. McLeod, a Cambridge resident who frequents the Smith Center plaza at night, said that chaining chairs together and closing the area off unfairly punishes the public.