Master Sees Possibility Of Enrollment Increase

The College is "much nearer the issue of expansion than we tend to think," Delmar Leighton '19, Master of Dudley House, said yesterday. "There is a good chance that two of three Houses included in the Program for Harvard College may be used to enlarge the student body."

Although Program literature lays heavy emphasis on "deconversion of overcrowded rooms," Leighton stated that "beyond a certain point, students will not be willing to pay the cost of extensive deconversion."

According to Leighton, the opening of Quincy House will allow the other seven residential Houses to deconvert up to 230 suites. "The Administration will look carefully at the number of applications for these more expensive suites, and use this as a gage to determine how far deconversion should proceed."

"I do not agree with people who tell the student, 'you are overcrowded, even if you don't realize it,'" said Leighton. "The minute the students do not cast their dollar votes for more deconversion, I will be for gradual expansion."

Leighton pointed out that, if the College begins deconverting, it will logically begin with the lower-priced rooms, where there is most crowding now. "But," he asked, "what would this do to the number of students who can afford to live in the Houses?"

More Commuters Possible

Every time the price level goes up, "a large group of students get nearer the economic margin." In connection with this fact, Leighton noted, there is the distinct possibility of admitting an increased number of non-resident students.

When the House system began, 22 per cent of the student body were commuters, and now the figure is only 9 per cent. "But if the cost of going to Harvard continues to increase, Leighton states, "this drop in the number of commuters might be reversed."

"Why go to the West Coast for applicants," he asked, "when there are plenty of local boys, willing and able to do Harvard work?" Nothing that "there are many students in this area who are superior to our present marginal students," he explained that many of these boys are "scared away from applying by the high cost of residence."

Leighton said he wants to improve the educational experience at Dudley, so that "living at home does not give a commuter the feeling of being out of things."