Cronkhite Center

Contact Information

This property is managed by Mt. Auburn Group Property Management. 

• Please view our  Contact Us  page for the most up-to-date information and Office Hours for the Mt. Auburn Group Property Management team, Leasing team, Graduate Commons, and more. 

Getting Started

Download this helpful PDFs before you arrive:

• Safety first

Activate your Harvard ID Card

• Harvard affiliates living at Cronkhite Center must have their Harvard ID cards activated by our office. New Harvard affiliates must return the temporary swipe card issued by our office before we can activate newly issued Harvard ID cards.

Stay Informed

• Email is our primary method of contacting residents and their emergency contacts so be sure the email addresses we have on file are current and checked frequently. 
• You can change your email address in the Resident Portal. Please email leasing@harvard.edu to update emergency contact information.
• International Students, consider "unlocking" your phone prior to leaving your home country. To learn more, visit the Harvard International Office website.
• All Harvard affiliates are asked to sign up for the University's Emergency Notification System, messageme.

Policies and Procedures

• Residents are expected to comply with the terms of their License and the Harvard University Housing & Real Estate Residence Hall Policies and Procedures sent as part of the Housing License package.

INCLUDED FURNITURE

Each room is furnished with:

• One twin bed and mattress, with one mattress cover
• 2 chests of drawers
• One wardrobe
• One file cabinet
• One desk and desk chair
• One desk lamp
• One bookcase
• One mini fridge

NOT INCLUDED

The rooms do not contain the following items, and students should bring their own:

• Floor lamps
• Mirror
• Linens (including: bed sheets, pillowcases, pillows, blankets, towels, etc.)
• Personal toiletries
• Dishes

• Please contact your Property Management Office at least two business days in advance of your planned move-in to make key pick-up arrangements and ask questions related to your move-in plans. That time is required to coordinate keys and communicate back to the tenant.

Visit the Arrivals and Moving page for more information

MAIL & PACKAGES

Harvard University Mail Services (HUMS) sorts and delivers your mail Monday–Friday to the mailbox assigned to your room number, located in the lobby. You’ll receive a mailbox key when you check in. HUMS leaves packages in the package room, located by the mailbox area and accessible with your Harvard ID.

MAILING ADDRESS

Mail and packages may only be received by current residents and must be addressed as follows:

[Resident First Name, Last Name]
84 Brattle Street
[Room #]
Cambridge, MA 02138

• Residents may not leave food cooking unattended in the common kitchens at any time.
   
• Shared kitchens are available in the building for meal preparation at times. Please be mindful and respectful to other residents in the building, and remember that this is a shared facility and not any resident’s personal space. Responsibility for these kitchens lies with the Residents and Resident Advisors. 
   
• Shared kitchens may be closed intermittently to accommodate the custodial staff cleaning schedule. 

The Cronkhite Center has community bathrooms that may be shared by as many as 10-12 residents per wing. Please act courteously to fellow residents while utilizing the shared facilities. Residents must wear appropriate clothing (e.g., bathrobes, sandals) in the hallways when coming from or going to the bathroom. 

Please keep the bathrooms clean and free of personal belongings, including undergarments. Your neighbors also use these facilities and expect to find them in a serviceable condition. Community bathrooms are cleaned regularly by the custodial staff. If the condition of a bathroom becomes such that it cannot wait for the next scheduled cleaning, contact the Property Management Office.

COMMON AREAS

• Basement Lounge: When it’s not in use for a Graduate Commons event, the Cronkhite Center’s shared lounge is available for small gatherings of up to 12 people, first come, first served. It may also be reserved privately for up to 30 people through the Graduate Commons Program. All room reservation policies apply. 
   
• Reading Room: Located on the second floor, this is a quiet study area. 
   
• Dining Room: The dining room is available each day from 8am-11pm for dining or studying when not used for a Graduate Commons event. No personal items should be left in this space unattended. Please be mindful of others in the space.  

CLEANLINESS

Because this is a community environment, residents are required to keep their room and themselves clean and tidy. In addition, students are expected to clean up after themselves after using any common space or shared amenity. The custodial staff is here to maintain the facility, not to clean up after residents. Not meeting these requirements represents a violation of your housing contract.

GUESTS

• You may have occasional guests for temporary visits of no more than three days/nights over a seven day period. Guests are not allowed to move to a different room to extend their stay. 
• Guests may not stay overnight in Cronkhite unless the official resident will be present.
• Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to stay overnight in Cronkhite.
• You are responsible for the behavior of your guests at all times, and guests may not use common areas of Cronkhite Graduate Center when the resident host is not present. HUH does not provide keys to guests, so the resident host will be responsible for letting their guest in and out of the residence hall and their room.

NOISE

Please respect your fellow residents’ concerns regarding noise and keep all sound within reasonable limits. There should be no excessive noise at any time in Cronkhite. Residents having events or gatherings in individual rooms should keep noise levels down. Residents should also be mindful that hallways are not an ideal gathering space, particular late at night and early in the morning. Conversations in kitchens and lounges should be kept at reasonable volumes since these spaces neighbor individual rooms.

QUIET AREAS

• Daily quiet hours: 11:00 PM–7:00 AM every day
• Reading and exam periods: 24 hours a da
• If a resident is using a common room or lounge during quiet hours, noise should not be audible within any of the neighboring rooms or suites. During quiet hours, noise from a room should not be audible outside that room.

RESOLVING NOISE COMPLAINTS

If a resident is disturbed by noise produced by a neighbor, the resident should first communicate that concern directly to the neighbor, if they are comfortable doing so. It may be that the neighbor is unaware that the noise is as loud as it is or that it could be bothering other residents. If the problem persists after communicating with the neighbor, the resident should contact Property Management during business hours and Harvard University Police at 617-495-1212 after hours.  

• A coin and credit card–operated laundry facility is located in the basement (Stairwell #1 or Elevator #1)

• Laundry facilities are provided as a courtesy to building residents, and HUH is not liable for any damages or loss that may occur by using the machines.
   
• Machines may not be able to accommodate certain items. Machines should be used only during posted hours to avoid disturbing adjacent residents.
   
• Please be courteous and remove your laundry from machines promptly when washing or drying is complete so that other residents may use the machines; items should never be left overnight in machines. Please empty the lint screen of the clothes dryer after every use and place dryer lint in a closed bag or other disposal object to prevent fire.
   
• If you experience a problem with a machine provided in your apartment, please submit a work maintenance request to your Property Management Office.

If you experience problems with machines in common laundry rooms or need to request a refund for coins lost in CSC Service Works machines, please contact CSC Service Works: https://www.cscsw.com/one-csc/ or call 877-264-6622. Please also notify your Property Management Office, so they can investigate the problem and post signage on the machine that is out of service.

This service is provided as a courtesy and HUH cannot guarantee the availability of all items at all times.

• Please help by returning shared items as soon as you are done using them.
   
• If you find that you are frequently borrowing a specific item, you may want to consider buying your own and storing it in your room.

• On each floor in the trash room: carpet sweeper, mop, broom/dustpan
   
• In the laundry room: iron and ironing board 
   
• Available to sign out from the Property Management Office: vacuum cleaner 

TRASH & COMPOSTING

• Trash rooms are located throughout the building for trash disposal on each floor.
• There are also composting receptacles in the shared kitchens.
• Residents are to dispose of recycling, composting, and trash in the appropriate designated locations.
• Residents may not leave trash in the hallways, elevators, stairways, or grounds.

RECYCLING

In accordance with city municipal code, HUH is required to separate recyclable materials from trash. Eighty percent of what you throw out can be recycled, and our comprehensive Single Stream Recycling Program means you can collect all recyclable materials (paper, flattened cardboard, clean containers of aluminum, steel, plastics #1-7, and glass) together in your recycling bag. Please use a separate bin to collect household trash (food waste, Styrofoam, used tissues, etc.). Learn more about living sustainably at HUH.

Use the recycling setup in the trash room for your everyday recycling. To help maintain a clean and effective system, please:

• For smaller recyclables follow the instructions in the trash room.
   
• Remove the following from containers and boxes before recycling:
  • Food residue and liquids (to avoid odor issues).
  • Styrofoam and plastic wrappings/liners (not recyclable).
     
• Flatten items the best you can to maximize space.
   
• Do not use plastic bags to dispose of your recycling – they are not recyclable and contaminate the recycling.
   
• Small cardboard boxes can be flattened and left in the recycling area.

You can lock your bike on Cronkhite’s exterior bike racks, or use the basement bike room, which is accessible with your Harvard ID after registering with the property management office. 

Pets are not allowed at Cronkhite Center.

HUH prohibits the use of grills at Cronkhite and on the property grounds.

• This includes charcoal, propane, liquefied petroleum gas, and electric grills, as well as smokers, hibachis, chimineas, etc. 

Smoke Detectors

• Your building is equipped with individual smoke detectors within each apartment as well as a common area fire alarm system. Apartment detectors will sound only in your apartment when activated. They will not silence until the source of the alarm is eliminated. Open windows to ventilate your apartment if food is burned. Do not open doors to hallways to ventilate.
• Common area detectors are linked throughout the building. The entire system will sound if one common area detector is activated. If this occurs, the building must be evacuated and the fire department will be called. The system will not be silenced until it is determined by the fire department that the occupants are not in danger.
• Do not remove or disable detectors. Deliberate triggering of false fire alarms and tampering with apartment or building fire safety equipment are more than a nuisance; they are subject to criminal penalties under Massachusetts law.
• All detectors and alarm systems are checked and maintained during annual fire safety inspections. Fire alarm testing can be loud and invasive. We make every effort to take academic activity into account when scheduling testing and to provide advance notification to residents. Please contact the Property Management Office for more information.

Sprinklers

• Units are equipped with sprinklers. The sprinkler head will be activated at temperatures of 165°F and above.
• Sprinkler systems that are not recessed are very sensitive and can be activated if they are banged or pulled. 
• Please do not hang anything from sprinklers or sprinkler pipes and refrain from stacking items close to them (a minimum of 18” of clearance underneath the sprinkler is required). 
• Residents are responsible for damages caused by activation due to improper use.

• It is your responsibility to insure any personal property. HUH and Harvard University do not cover the cost of replacing residents’ personal items (clothing, computers, furniture, stereos, books, etc.) that may be damaged or lost due to theft, fire, water, or vandalism. 
   
• Personal property insurance may be obtained by searching online for local insurance agents, National Student Services, Inc. (800-256-6774), or CSI Insurance Agency, Inc. (888-411-4911). 
   
• Full-time Harvard employees may also be able to obtain discounted insurance through MetLife (to obtain a quote, call Marsh@WorkSolutions at 866-228-3516). 
   
• Students may first want to check if they are covered under their parents’ homeowners policy, if applicable. Also, residents who live here and own a home elsewhere may want to add appropriate coverage to their home insurance policy for a small additional fee.