Study May Alter Numbers in Houses

A recent study of College living space could lead to shifts in the number of students assigned to the 12 Houses.

Harvard's most comprehensive examination of the Houses's physical dimensions, scheduled for release this fall, may reveal sharp inequities in living standards among the Houses, College officials said yesterday.

Homework

Some officials believe the study will substantiate claims that the long-hold practice of distributing overflow House residents evenly among the 12 upper class dorms unfairly crowds a few Houses, while offering relatively luxurious accommodations elsewhere. The Quad dorms and Mather House might emerge as residences with unfair overcrowding, some administrators indicated.

"The purpose of the study was to see if with the new data base we could develop a new formula for assignments in the Houses, "Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59 said yesterday.

The Houses currently accommodate about 600 more students than the approximately 4500 they were designed for, and the overflow is generally distributed evenly among the 10 Houses at the River and the three at the Radcliffe Quad.

But the data may show that this even distribution overcrowds some Houses more severely than others because of different architecture, officials indicated. The College might move to alleviate those crunches by distributing more students to Houses with larger suites, where extra residents could be absorbed more easily, they added.

Change Next Year Possible

"I would hope we could get to a point where this [study] influences the assignments of rising sophomores," said Assistant College Dean for Housing Thomas A. Dingman '67, referring to the annual freshman lottery held in March. "My hope would be we could get it worked out by February."

The computerized study, conducted by former College aide John Howe, involved measuring virtually every room in the Houses, in addition to House recreational space, said Associate College Dean Martha C. Gefter.

Quad Crowded

Although the College has researched the overcrowding dilemma and the amount of living space before, it "did not have a complete inventory" of the Houses on computer files," added Gefter. "You've got to plow through hundreds of pages of documents to find out what you want now."

The results of the summer's study will be stored on computer.

Explaining that the data has not yet been made available, officials refused to predict any specific changes in House populations which could emerge because of the findings.

But several indicated that the study would support the belief that Mather House and North, South and Currier Houses at the Radcliffe Quadrangle experience the most severe overcrowding problems in student rooms.

"It is certainly the case that Quad Houses--in particular North and Currier--and Mather have felt crowded the most," said Gefter.

Officials explained that those Houses feel the effects of overcrowding more because their architecture features predominantly single rooms which can loss easily accommodate extra students, compared to the suites in other River Houses.

North House Addition

The study is a second outgrowth of the ongoing review of the 1977 "Comprehensive Plan," which charted the current system of dormitory living in the Yard and Houses and contained a request for reassessment after five years.

The so called "Fox Plan" sought to offer undergraduates a common on-campus living experience.

The more significant development, announced earlier this year, in the current review is the proposal for a dormitory addition to North House, the smallest of Harvard's 12 residential Houses.

Backed by the House Masters, the estimated $6 million development which could accommodate as many as 100 students, is awaiting approval from President Bok, an official said yesterday.