Nestled between the Shapiro Campus Center, Sherman Student Center and the peripheral road stands a white building atop a hill. From rumors that circulate among students, one might think that this house is almost as clandestine and unapproachable as a similarly colored house found on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

The Faculty Club is the collegiate version of the teachers' lounge in grade school or the counselors' lounge at summer camp-most students see it as a mysterious, off-limits lair for faculty.

"I assume that based on the name, it's usually for faculty only, and that students aren't allowed to go there alone," Naomi Hernandez '07 said when asked for her impressions of the facility. With her statement, Hernandez echoes the belief among nearly all of the students interviewed for this article. However, according to Barb Laverdiere, director of Dining Services and Aramark's top liaison to the University, this is not the case.

Laverdiere explained that undergraduate students are welcome to dine at the Faculty Club during its weekday lunch hours, with or without an accompanying professor.

"For most undergraduate students, however, time is an issue, because our service at the Faculty Club tends to be more leisurely," she said. Also, while the Faculty Club accepts dining points and WhoCash, it does not accept meals on University meal plans.

Perhaps the Faculty Club draws such guesswork from students because of its physical appearance, furnishings and location on campus.

The structure resembles a California-style ranch house. The stone lattice work outside the club's facade, the high steps leading to its entrance, the detailed garden work on the front lawn and the sprawling one-story design all lend a certain element of dated elegance to the building, distinguishing it from the many rectangular, red-brick structures found on the Brandeis campus.

The furnishings found within are even more of an anomaly on the Brandeis campus. The front lobby sports a marble wall and a piano, as well as small exhibit detailing some aspects of Brandeis' history.

From the left of the lobby, guests enter the Lounge. The Lounge holds a grandfather clock and marble tables, while richly-painted tapestries adorn its walls. To the right of the lobby is the President's Room, a simple space that houses a boardroom-style table with several plush chairs.

The heart of the Faculty Club is the main dining room, with wide windows that flood the room with sunlight and provide a view of the lawn extending out toward the Spingold Theater. Here, assorted professors, administrators, staff members and graduate students sit at cloth-covered tables while dining on such fare as Veal Marsala and Wild Mushroom Ravioli during the club's weekday lunch hours.

Students have seen signs that appear capriciously around the peripheral road, pointing visitors to the Faculty Club for celebrations like the "Goldstein Bat Mitzvah."

"We have unbelievably reasonable prices," Laverdiere said. "An event for 150 people could easily cost under $5,000." While this price may seem quite steep to a college student, hotels and event halls typically charge more than double, triple or even quadruple this sum for similar occasions.

Laverdiere noted that Brandeis does not advertise the Faculty Club in local venues. "We depend on word-of-mouth advertising, mainly from alumni looking to have events here," she said.

One myth circulating about the Faculty Club is that people live there. While this is not true, perhaps the most unusual part of the facility is that in addition to its dining and event space, the building also houses six hotel-style rooms available for $65 per night. Met by doormats built into the cement walkway outside the rooms, visitors may be reminded of a classic 1960s hotel or motel as they enter their rooms.

"No one [from the undergraduate community] really knows about these rooms," said Dan Rose '99, operations manager for Conference and Events Services. The rooms are often used to accommodate visiting lecturers and speakers, and can also serve as emergency housing for students. "Some kids from Ziv stayed here after their rooms were flooded [by the recent sprinkler malfunctions]," Rose said.

The rooms come equipped with a television set with rabbit-ear antennas, but are also furnished with more contemporary amenities such as a Cisco IP telephone and high-speed internet access over the University's network. Some of the rooms also feature kitchenettes. Even with these amenities, Rose said that these rooms are intended so that the University can house its guests, and are not a huge source of income.

Another rumor prevalent among students is that the Faculty Club houses a wine cellar. "We have an alcohol storage room, not a wine cellar," Laverdiere said. It is in the basement of the Faculty Club that all the alcohol served on campus is stored. "We use the alcohol for catered events and we also supply the Stein," she said.

Now that the truth has been exposed and the rumors debunked, the Faculty Club might seem less intimidating and more welcoming to the average undergraduate student. Perhaps, much the like the big, green building next to it, the Faculty Club will be seen someday as a congruent part of the Brandeis landscape.