Report Stresses Overcrowding in College Facilities

A two-hour discussion of the theoretical merits of expansion obscured many other findings of the Student Council's Committee on Growth and Development at Monday's night's long meeting.

While the Council decided, on subject grounds, to support the expansion its committee had categorically opposed, it accepted the group's other recommendations for specific areas in the College which need improvement now, before any expansion is undertaken.

The report emphasized the harmful effects of crowding, though not in a conclusive fashion. It noted that while crowding did not definitely lead to lower grades, it produced considerable feeling of dissatisfaction. The effect was noted particularly in connection with crowding in the Houses, but not too decisively in classes.

While the committee admitted it could not clearly trace the effect of crowding on grades, it did say that "The student who lives in a crowded suite finds adjustment to college life more difficult."

Urge Easing of Growth

Despite its opposition to expansion on principle, the report did include recommendations for easing the growth which it believed likely to occur anyhow. These included the building of an eighth House as an overflow House, and greater personal attention in tutorial, and by implication criticized tutors for not communicating their own intellectual enthusiasm to students.

Strong support was voiced generally for tutorial and the House system, and the group asked for the long-controversial "science tutorial," praising its experimental use in Kirkland House last year. Another request the group brought up about tutorial was one asking that the size of tutorial groups be reduced, and suggesting that senior Faculty members might sometimes meet with tutorial groups.