Contact Us: 617-496-6054
 

2013 Move In

HLS Move In tent

Arrival

Arriving on Official Move In Days

Returning Students (2Ls, 3Ls, returning SJDS, Transfers) – August 8, 2013 from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm.  Returning students will pick up their on the first floor of Holmes Hall, room 3. You will need to bring your HUID, driver’s license, or passport in order to receive your keys. You are welcome to move in any time or date after August 8th. See “Late Arrival” for further details.

Grad Students (LLMs, incoming SJDS, exchange students, other HU students, visiting researchers & scholars) – August 19, 2013 from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. Grad students will pick up their keys at the move in tent on Everett St in the courtyard in front of Holmes Hall. You will need a government issued photo ID (passport or driver’s license) in order to receive your keys. You are welcome to move in any time or date after August 19th. See “Late Arrival” for further details.

Incoming Students (1Ls) – August 30, 2013 from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. Incoming students will go to one of three move in locations. If you are moving into any of the Gropius dorms , you should go the move in tent located in the Gropius Courtyard on Everett Street, in front of Holmes Hall. If you are moving into North Hall or the HLS Apartments, you should go to the move in station in the North Hall parking lot. If you are moving into Hastings, you should go to the move in tent in front of Hastings Hall. Incoming students need a government issued photo ID (passport or driver’s license) in order to check in. You are welcome to move in any time or date after August 30th. See “Late Arrival” for further details.

For maps and directions, click here.

Late Arrival

Arriving after Official Move-In Days/Hours

We encourage you to plan your arrival during the official move-in dates/hours. However, we understand that circumstances may prevent you from arriving during those hours. If you arrive during business hours (9am – 5pm) after your official move-in date, you can pick up your keys at the Facilities Management Office on the first floor of Holmes Hall, room 4. If you arrive outside of business hours or on the weekend, a security guard will be available to let you into your room. Use your cell phone or the campus phone located at Holmes Hall next to the entrance door facing Harkness Commons. Call the Harvard University Police at 617-495-1215 and ask for the Law School security guard to meet you at Holmes Hall to check out your dorm keys.  You will need either your HUID, driver’s license, or passport.

Early Arrival
Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate any earlier move in dates or times. The only exception to this is Harvard Law Review students, who can begin moving in on 8/4/2013 using the procedures outlined in the Late Arrival section. Any other students arriving before their designated Official Move In dates may refer to the Short Term Housing options for temporary housing.

Movers

On the Official Move In dates, HLS hires Harvard College students to help move residents into their dorms. If you are moving in after your official Move In date, you may hire college students to help you move in through the Harvard Student Agencies Moving Services website. The price for student movers is $15/per student/per half hour. You can also check out the Storage and Movers page for a list of private moving, shipping, and storage companies.

Bed Sizes & Linens

All Gropius and Hastings bedrooms, as well as the small rooms in North Hall, have extra long twin beds which are 80″ long x 36″ wide or 200 cm long x 90cm wide. Medium, Standard and Large rooms in North Hall, and all rooms in the HLS Apartments have full size beds which are 75″ long x 54″ wide x 9″ deep or 188 cm long x 135 cm x 22.86 cm wide. Linens are not provided. You should plan to either bring your own, buy them at nearby a department store, buy them online and have them shipped to HLS, or buy them from Harvard Student Agencies. Cambridge has significant temperature variance across the seasons, ranging from below 0 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter to above 90 degrees during the summer, so please plan your wardrobe and bedding/linens appropriately.

Cable TV – Comcast

Each room or suite in the HLS Residence Halls and each bedroom in the HLS Apartments is cable-ready.  If you would like to set up cable service, you can contact Comcast at 1-800-XFINITY.  Residents will need to provide their own television. In addition, the following lounges all have large high-definition flat panel televisions and high-definition cable:  

  • Ames 1, 2, 3, 4
  • Dane 3
  • Shaw 2
  • Story 1, 2, 3, 4
  • North 1
  • 3 Mellen Street living room
  • 5 Mellen Street living room

Food Services

Although there is a cafeteria at the Law School in the Harkness Commons, there is no meal plan. There are many grocery stores and restaurants near the Law School, and all residents have access to kitchens in their buildings.

Furniture

Each resident receives at least basic furnishings - a bed, desk, desk chair, bookcase and/or bookshelves, dresser and/or closet, a trash can, and recycling can. Some buildings have additional furnishings which are listed on each building’s web page. Residents may certainly bring small pieces of supplementary furniture, as long as they do not create a fire hazard. Please note that the furniture provided by HLS in your room/suite/apartment cannot be removed from the dorm room. Residents CANNOT bring their own beds to replace the HLS beds provided unless they have a documented medical condition or disability that requires it, in which case we require documentation from a licensed physician. Prior to your arrival, please contact Hayley Brown with any medical conditions that require potential alterations to your housing.

During Move Out, students from all of the schools at Harvard donate any unwanted items.  These items are then re-sold at Stuff Sales. The Harvard University Stuff Sales will be in late August and early September.  They will take place in front of the Science Center.  It is an excellent opportunity to get dorm furniture or items for a very cheap price.

Another good way to buy or sell items is through www.hlslist.com.

Housing Handbook

The Housing Handbook is updated during March each year. All residents are encouraged to familiarize themselves with its contents. Many frequently asked questions are answered there, so when a Resident Assistant or staff member in the Dean of Students Office is unavailable, we encourage you to look to the handbook for answers. Also, when residents sign the license/lease, they acknowledge their responsibility for abiding by the policies and procedures outlined in the handbook.

Internet/Network Access

All residents of on-campus housing can access the Internet and HLS network via a wired jack in their room or by wireless anywhere in the residence halls. When you turn on your computer and open a web browser for the first time, you will be automatically directed to log into the FAStAcess Device system at https://autoreg.fas.harvard.edu/index.html with your HUID and PIN. The system will walk you through the registration process including securing your computer. You must do this for each device which you intend to connect to the HLS network. If you have any questions or problems, you should contact the Student Help Desk coordinated by Information Technology Services (ITS) at help@law or 617-495.9576. Here are some helpful ITS Web Resources:

Keys

Residents receive 3 keys when they move in – an exterior door key, a dorm room key, and a mailbox key.  Please note that you will be charged up to $150 for a set of lost keys.

Kitchens

All residents have access to at least one kitchen in their building. All kitchens are equipped with basic appliances (stove/oven, microwave, toaster oven, refrigerator/freezer). Gropius, North, and Hastings kitchens also have communal pots and pans and some other basic cooking needs. Apartment kitchens do not come with any kitchenware.  All residents must provide their own plates, cups, utensils, chopping knives, Tupperware, etc.

Laundry Rooms

All residents have access to laundry facilities in on-campus housing. Laundry rooms include coin or Crimson Cash operated washers and dryers. Laundry detergent, fabric softener, ironing boards, and irons are not provided, so residents should plan to bring their own.

License/Lease

Students must sign their housing lease or license prior to moving in and receiving their keys.

Mailing Address

Your mailing address is provided in a move in information email sent in late July, and is also on your housing contract or lease. Your mailing address should be in the following format:

1585 Massachusetts Avenue #XXXX
HLS Residential Mail Center
Cambridge, MA 02138

The xxxx will be your mailbox number (NOT your dorm room number) which will be given to you in the aforementioned move in email.

If you do not know your address or you have questions about the format, please contact Hayley Brown in the Dean of Students Office at housing@law.harvard.edu or 617-496-6054.

Maintenance Requests

The Facilities Management Office worked hard this summer to ensure that your room would be ready for your arrival.  However, if there are any problems or issues with your room, you can contact them at 617-495-5521 or facmgmt@law.harvard.edu. During nights and weekends, you will automatically be transferred to the Harvard University Operations Center, which is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Maps & Directions

Taxi Cab Information

If you are flying in to Boston’s Logan Airport and are in need of transportation to HLS, one-way taxi cab fare is generally about $40. While there are typically many taxi cabs lined up at Logan waiting, if you would like to call ahead and arrange in advance, here are a few companies that operate in the greater Boston/Cambridge area:

  • Boston Cab, 617.536.5010
  • Checker Cab, 617-536-7000
  • City Cab, 617-536-5100
  • ITOA, 617-825-4000
  • Metro Cab, 617-782-5500
  • Town Taxi, 617-536-5000
  • Hello Taxi, 617 734-1111
  • Independent, 617-426-8700
  • Bay State Taxi, 617-566-5000
  • So. Boston Taxi, 617-269-4444

Official Move-In Dates

  • Law Review Students – August 4, 2013, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
  • 2Ls & 3Ls, Returning SJDS, Transfers - August 8, 2013, 9:30am-4:30pm
  • LL.M.s, Incoming S.J.D.s, and Exchange Students – August 19, 2013, 9:30am-4:30pm
  • 1Ls –  August 30, 2013, 9:30am-4:30pm

Orientation for Incoming J.D.s

Information can be found on the JD Orientation web site. This will be available in early August.

Parking

Students during the Academic Year
As Cambridge is an urban environment, parking is extremely limited. Public transportation is efficient, safe, and widespread with the MBTA (known as the T) Red Line running through the heart of Cambridge into Boston and T bus routes running throughout Cambridge and Boston. Law students who do bring cars to campus compete with other Harvard graduate students for University parking spots. For additional information, contact the Parking Office at parking@harvard.edu or 617-495-3772.

On Move-In Day
On August 8th, August 19th, and August 30th, 20-minute unloading parking spaces have been reserved along Everett Street for Gropius residents, as well as Massachusetts Avenue for North Hall and Hastings Hall. Hastings Hall also has a driveway in its courtyard that will be accessible for unloading and North has a small turnaround. With so many students scheduled to move in that day, we ask that residents park for no longer than 20 minutes to ensure that all residents are able to access the reserved spots to unload their vehicles.

If parking is needed for longer than 20 minutes, you should purchase a half day or full day pass to the 10 Everett St parking garage, which is located under the new WCC building on the HLS campus. This is the closest and cheapest parking option.  A full day’s pass is $13, but passes MUST be purchased in advance. You can purchase a parking pass here:

https://www2.uos.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/permit/purchase.pl

If you do not purchase a pass in advance, there are a number of parking garages in Harvard Square that can be used for an hourly rate:
Holyoke Center Parking Garage, 617.723.1488, 1350 Massachusetts AVe, just off Harvard Square between Massachusetts Ave and Mt. Auburn St. Enter on Holyoke St.
Harvard Square Parking Garage, 617.491.0298, 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge
Maps of Cambridge denoting each of these parking garages will be available at your move-in location.

Phone Service

Telephone lines are provided by the Harvard Student Telephone Office . Lines include local calling to most areas surrounding Cambridge and Boston as well as University calling. Line features include Call Waiting, Caller ID, and Three-Way Calling. You must bring your own touch-tone telephone. Long distance calls are handled by Paetec Communications. Each resident is issued a Personal Billing Number (PBN) in a letter sent to your HLS Residential Mail Center address, which allows you to place long distance calls from any student telephone on campus. If you have any problems with your telephone line not working, you should contact Telephone Repair at 617-495-4900.

Resident Assistants

For information regarding the role of Resident Assistants see the Resident Assistant webpage.

Shipping Packages Ahead of Move-In

You may mail packages to HLS and have them waiting in your room when you arrive. The HLS Residential Mail Center handles all mail and package deliveries, so you should ship the packages to yourself at your HLS Residential Mail Center address.  In order to ensure that your packages are delivered to your room, you should plan to have them arrive no sooner than 10 days prior to your move-in date, which would be July 29 for returning students and transfers, August 9, 2011 for LL.M.s, incoming S.J.D.s and Exchange students,  and August 20 for 1Ls .

Unfortunately, the HLS Residential Mail Center is not able to deliver packages exceeding 50 pounds to your room, so please pack your boxes accordingly. Should a box heavier than 50 pounds arrive, you may pick it up in the HLS Residential Mail Center when you arrive. Packages that arrive after the day of your scheduled move-in or later can also be picked up in the HLS Residential Mail Center. Please note that during the academic year, packages will not deliver your packages to your room – all deliveries go to the HLS Residential Mail Center where students can pick them up after receiving  e-mail notification of arrival.

Storage

There is storage space in the residence halls, but it is very limited and therefore restricted to three boxes per resident. All boxes, trunks, and suitcases placed in storage must have a properly filled-out, current storage sticker on them, with their name, cell phone number, email address, and date the materials were stored.  Students returning to the dorms were allowed to keep items in the storage room over the summer.  However, all dorm residents are welcome to store up to three items during the year, as well.  You can pick up an academic year storage sticker from your RA.  All items placed in storage are done so at the resident’s own risk. Neither the University nor any of its officers are responsible for their safekeeping. We recommend that residents wait to place items in the storage rooms until after returning students have retrieved the belongings they stored over the summer.

The storage rooms will all be unlocked from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on the official move in days – August 8, August 19, and August 30.  If you would like to retrieve your items at any other time, you can get a key to the storage room from the Facilities Management office (during regular business hours) or from your RA.  You will be required to leave your HUID with Facilities or your RA while you have the key.

Shaw Residents from Last Year
If you had items in Shaw storage in April of 2012 that you labeled to be moved with the orange storage move sticker, your items will be in the Ames Hall storage closets (which is different from the standard Ames Hall storage space). You can get a key for this space and the location of your items from the Facilities Management office during regular business hours.

What to Bring and What NOT to Bring

Residents of Hastings two-bedroom suites and multiple-resident units in the HLS apartments – you should consider checking with your suitemate in advance to coordinate what to bring.

Things to consider bringing to HLS

  • Alarm Clock
  • Bedding – Pillows, blankets, mattress cover (mattresses are fire-resistant with a plastic surface), egg crate and bed sheets
  • Cleaning Products – Common spaces (bathrooms, kitchens, hallways, and lounges) are cleaned by the custodial staff, but residents are expected to maintain a reasonable level of order and cleanliness in individual rooms and to maintain proper health and safety conditions.
  • Computer/Laptop and surge protector
  • Fan
  • Food Storage Containers
  • Hangers
  • Lamps for reading/desk
  • Laundry Bag/Basket or Hamper
  • Laundry Detergent
  • Plants
  • Refrigerator (less than 4 cubic feet)
  • Shower Caddy for Gropius and Hastings residents to carry their things to the bathroom
  • Telephone Set (local and University phone service is included)
  • Towels
  • Vacuum or Dustbuster – Resident Assistants will have vacuums for residents to borrow, but residents may want to bring their own small vacuum or dustbuster for personal use.

Things NOT to bring to HLS

  • Candles, or any type of an open flame
  • Cooking appliances of any kind: microwaves, microfridges, coffee maker, toaster ovens, toasters, hot plates
  • Halogen Lamps
  • Space Heaters
  • Tapestries
  • Pets

 

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