Sixty Students to Live In Off-Campus Housing

The Administration has allowed 60 students to live off campus this year to avoid overcrowding room arrangements. Dean Watson said yesterday. Watson predicted in May that the college would be forced to let that many students live out, and each house recommended six men who wanted to live off campus. Of these, about 50 were given permission; eight or ten more were cleared Tuesday.

At present, there are at least 11 more upperclassmen than spaces in the campuses but Watson expects all to have room by the middle of next week. Some men are being temporarily housed in barracks in House suites; others who are near Cambridge are being forced to commute until they can be assigned a room.

Some Temporary Housing

Adams and Eliot, which were particularly over-crowded this year, report that they have just about settled everyone. Eliot had to reconvert a couple of rooms; one or two of its members went to other Houses, and a few are still being temporarily housed.

In Adams two or three rooms were converted, but only at the request of those members whose former roommates were returning after a leave of abscence. The House is putting up more than its normal quota of students.

Watson pointed out that all the Houses except Quincy and Leverett deconverted five rooms each over the summer, leaving 35 fewer places for upperclassmen. They said that the College has been deconverting since 1950 and "did not want to reconvert" any rooms.

The dean called the room situation "better than last year," when 37 students had to live in off-campus housing. But he predicted trouble next September, because the entering freshman class is larger than anticipated.

In general, Watson said, he can predict within five or ten the number of upperclassmen needing rooms, taking into account students who drop out, flunk out, get married, return from leaves or stay for a fourth year of study after graduating in three under the advanced standing program.

Missed By 30

Last year Watson missed by over 30 when an unusually large number of students on leave returned to avoid the draft. With the increase in call-ups following Berlin, he said, students flocked back to "get under the college umbrella."

Even with the increase, the Administration did not force the Masters to take more students that the quota assigned to them in the spring.

Delmar Leighton. Master of Dudley House, has turned over several rooms in Wigglesworth for unplaced freshmen who left Harvard before they became affiliated with any House. This pool of six men is being distributed among the Houses which are not overcrowded. Leighton uses four entries in Wigglesworth to house commuters, in addition to rooms in Appley Court, Dudley, and the cooperatives.