the time, parks commissioner Moses and Columbia president Grayson L. Kirk were discussing allowing Columbia to use part of Morningside Park. The plan was approved by the New York City Board of Estimate in December 1955, and soon after, Moses and Manhattan borough president Hulan Jack announced that Columbia would build a comfort station/field house, storage building, and athletic complex on a section of the park. The athletic complex contained two fields for softball, three for football, and one for soccer and was opened in May 1957. The arrangement between Columbia and the city stipulated that the university would be the sole user of the complex during weekdays between June and October, while it would be open to the public at other times. The fields soon became popular with neighborhood residents. In 1961, new lighting was installed in the southern section of Morningside Park to deter crime. More controversial was Columbia's proposal in January 1960 to erect a building to the north of the athletic fields. The structure, on a plot, would have an upper level to be used as a Columbia gym and a lower level community center. The complex was supported by Moses, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., and the New York City Council. A 50-year lease was approved in March 1960, signed in August, and accepted by the Board of Estimate. The structure was to cost $9 million, of which $1 million was donated in May 1962 by alumnus Francis S. Levien. The project faced some opposition by 1964 because of Columbia's rapid expansion. Some residents denounced the proposed Morningside Park construction as a "land grab", while others protested the proposed gentrification that would accompany such expansion. Subsequently, in March 1964, neighborhood associations and officials toured the park to demonstrate its deteriorated conditions and need for funding, and to show that it was safe. Thomas Hoving, one of the parks commissioners who succeeded Moses, said in January 1966 that he was "pretty damned upset" about the deal because it would perpetuate segregation. The planned separate east and west entrances were seen as an attempt to circumvent the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned racially segregated facilities, as Morningside Heights' population was largely white while Harlem's was largely Black. The University's administration under Grayson Kirk denied that this reflected racial bias and stressed that greater park services would benefit the Harlem community. In March 1966, the University's