DEC alumni buy Cannon Club facility

The alumni graduate board of Dial, Elm and Cannon Club officially exercised their option to repurchase Notestein Hall — former home of Cannon Club — and the surrounding land last week and intend to reopen the former eating club facility, according to University Vice President and Secretary Thomas Wright '62.

"They sent us a certified letter [to complete the repurchase]," Wright said. "The repurchase is definite, so it is just a matter of working out the details."

Though Cannon's return to eating club status is official, necessary renovations to convert the former Office of Population Research to accommodate the needs of an eating club may take nearly a year — pushing the earliest opening of the club to fall of 2002, Wright said.

Aside from finalizing the purchase, reopening the club will not require clearing additional hurdles, as DEC has maintained active status on the Graduate Inter-Club Council, ICC adviser Alice Teti '00 said.

"DEC is still an active member of the Graduate ICC, and they'll just come back in," Teti said. "They have support of all of the clubs' graduate boards."

Many students have expressed concern that an additional eating club will diminish the overall stability of the 'Street' and spread students too thinly among the clubs.

Teti, however, noted that the growth of the student body — under the implementation of the Wythes Plan — along with the excitement Cannon may bring to the 'Street' will provide an overall benefit to the Prospect Avenue clubs.

Though club membership lists show that nearly every year one or two clubs receive a smaller-than-expected number of sign-ins, Teti said that even now there are enough students to fill all of the clubs.

"I think that in the first round there are more than enough people [to fill all of the clubs] interested in joining a club," Teti said.

The University is also negotiating with Cannon for a temporary lease to use parts of Notestein Hall as swing space next year, Wright said.

"The new writing program needs temporary space next year before it's moved to permanent space," Wright said. "The club said they were not using the club next year anyway, so we're talking about using some space while the necessary renovations are done."

If the DEC alumni approve a one-year lease, Cannon Club's current office space layout will allow the University to move the new writing program into the building in the fall. Renovations would then occur throughout the rest of the building in preparation for the eventual opening of the club.