88% of '54 Lives In Yards Fewer Men Commuting

An unusually large percentage of this year's freshman class has elected to live at the College, Thomas E. Crooks, assistant dean of freshmen, revealed yesterday.

Only 13 percent of the class of '54 is commuting, compared to 18 percent of last year's freshmen, but Crooks could think of no reason for the decline. "We certainly did not drastically reduce the percentage of students from the Boston area," he stated.

The chief results of the change have been to put some of the deconversion planned for the Yard, and to force all upperclassmen into the area south of Massachusetts avenue. Last year, some of the overflow from the Houses was lodged in Yard dorms.

There are now 1002 freshmen in the yard, as opposed to 1038 freshmen and 133 upperclassmen last year. The deconversion that did take place was widely scattered, with Thayer Hall taking the largest cut, Crooks said.

The freshman's dean's office has made no decisions yet on deconversion next year, but is waiting to see the effects of the darft and other factors.