New University of California Campus Will Be Set Up Like Harvard Houses

The Harvard House system has had a significant influence on plans just released for a new campus of the University of California.

Dean E. McHenry, chancellor of the new campus, expressed interest in the Houses last year while interviewing several Harvard undergraduates. Twenty small liberal arts colleges will built at Santa Cruz, each with an independent administration. Between 250 and 1000 students will live in each unit. In his talk with students, McHenry was especially impressed with both the tutorial system and the Masters. Santa Cruz will have a campus-wide faculty, but like Harvard will have ten to twelve faculty members living in each college. The first to be built, Cowell College, will include a residence for the dean of the college very similar to the Quincy penthouse, which "intrigued" McHenry.

Like Widener

There will also be a "great research library" available to the whole campus, patterned after Widener. Students will be able to use both this library and common research laboratories regardless of their college affiliation.

But the Santa Crus experiment will go beyond the Harvard House system in several ways. Classes will be held exclusively within each college, with curriculum policy determined by the college administrations. According to McHenry, the colleges will be able to "develop their own traditions and their own emphases on courses."

In this way, McHenry hopes to improve upon the Harvard system. By using the faculty in various colleges, he hopes to achieve the quality of a large university, but also the intimacy of "a Swarthmore, Amherst, or Oberlin."