Visiting Committee Studies Beef Liver and Dormitories

A tray of fresh beef liver slid into place at the Lowell House dining hall at one o'clock this afternoon. The Committee to Visit Harvard College ate fresh liver and had their sherbet too.

It was not for nutritional reasons that the new tray was put in, nor was it for reasons of health that the floors in Hollis were polished. The distinguished visitors only rarely got a picture of the seamy side of college life, but they did get a fine cross-section of dormitory facilities--possibly enough to know what they want a new House to be like.

They saw specially cleaned rooms in Matthews South, Hollis South, and Holworthy West, three of the oldest dorms in the Yard. Each time they had to brush past a plainclothes guard and were restricted to the chosen rooms. Once, an intrepid member slipped upstairs to spy on a "regular room."

They reminisced about their college days as they walked through the Yard. One of them, described as an "old sentimental brute," lovingly recalled happier days on the top floor of Thayer.

For some, it was the first trip to the new Graduate Center. "This is an entirely new world," muttered an old grad. The modern pictures in the Harkness Common drew the attention of the visitors, but so did the undersized bedrooms, the community bathrooms, and the compartmental plates.

After a brief trip to the Business School, they came to Lowell House for lunch with members of the House committee. The liver was good.

Then they settled down in the secrecy of the Senior Common room to plot the future of the House system. Until almost 5:30 they talked of common rooms and things. Then they split up to visit the various Houses and later rejoined each other for dinner at the Society of Fellows, then another secret meeting with the Masters, and then they went to bed