Whitlock Says Dudley Needs Voluntary Basis

"The only way Dudley is ever going to become a success as a Harvard House is when it is put on a voluntary basis," according to Charles P. Whitlock, senior tutor of Dudley. Whitlock said this in reference to the 107 students who enrolled in the freshman class this year on a "forced commuter" basis.

"While this may be a necessary expedient," Whitlock said, "it seems to me that there are some students in the Houses now who would like to move out. If the University would let them do this, then some of these 'forced commuters' could easily occupy these vacancies.

A "forced commuter" is a student who has been accepted by the college on the stipulation that he will find lodgings outside Harvard.

Eighth House Will Help

Whitlock added that there had been a steady decline in the number of voluntary commuters in the past three years because "people in the low income brackets simply aren't applying, and more students want to get the benefits of 'living in.' But I do not think that we are solving the problem by forcing those students to live out who want to live in and by keeping in the Houses those who want to live out."

The occupation of Wigglesworth by upperclassmen is chiefly responsible for this new problem, Whitlock said. "The new eighth house will solve most of our difficulties," he added, "but there is a possibility that the College will continue to admit more than it can house, even after 1959."

There are indications that a sizeable proportion of the forced commuters have made arrangements with freshmen who do have accomodations in the Yard to move in with their friends in the freshman dormitories. Membership in Dudley is voluntary in the first year.