College Assigns 679 Men to Houses After Weighing 1360 Applications

The Yard, an independent dormitory, or the family homestead in Metropolitan Boston will have to serve another year as the home address for approximately half the Yardlings and commuters desiring space in the Houses for 1947-48, Associate Dean Robert B. Watson '37 announced last night.

Although every vacancy in the Houses has been filled, a total of 81 out of 1860 men will, for the time being, remain Houseless. These men will either remain in their present rooms, move elsewhere in the Yard, or transfer to Apley, Claverly, Dudley, or Little Halls.

News Comes Today

Whether admitted or rejected, every room-seeker will receive news of his fate in a University letter of admission to the Houses--or assignment to dormitories--which is scheduled to arrive in local mailboxes sometime today.

Dean Watson's figures showed that Lowell House will receive some 142 men, followed by Eliot with 135, and Leverett with 100. Adams House will accommodate 99, Dunster 76, Kirkland 65, and Winthrop 62, making a total of 679 men definitely assigned...

The number of men admitted by each House depended only on the number of graduating Seniors there, Dean Watson pointed out last night.

Preference to Juniors

Preference in selection of the new House members was given to prospective 1947-48 graduates insofar as possible, considering the number of vacancies at various prices and types of suites, Dean Watson said. Of necessity, this limited the room space open to members of other classes.

Students not admitted should receive some balm, however, from Dean Watson's statement that all men unassigned to a House will be kept on the official waiting list, for the use of the masters when vacancies occur. In such instances, these men will be released from their dormitory contracts, and allowed to change their residences.

Sign Contracts now

But if this offered some hope to frustrated Yardlings and commuters, Dean Watson vitiated it to some extent, as he went on to state that such vacancies are likely to be infrequent in the near future. Therefore, he urged all students to sign contracts immediately, rather than wait for a possible opening later.

Students living at home or with relatives may still reject the University assignment to a dormitory if they wish, although those living in the Yard and environs have little choice.

According to Watson's statement, such men "should report this fact in writing promptly to 16 University Hall, in order that space assigned to them should be given to someone else. Failure to accept this assignment in such cases will not jeopardize the applicants' chances for House assignments later."

Yardlings must vacate their rooms by 5 o'clock on may 29. Their rooms may be prepared for members of the Class of '22, who celebrate their twenty-fifth reunion the following week.