House Crowding Drops At Harvard This Year

Harvard Houses are not as overcrowded this year as last, Dean Watson said yesterday.

Watson explained that not as many students are returning this fall from leaves of absence as in the past few years and that "tremendous cooperation" over the summer from the Masters and House Secretaries prevented rooming assignment confusion.

In addition, Watson said that the quota of juniors and seniors allowed to live off-campus had been raised from the 25 announced last May "2 or 3 or 4" in each House according to the individual Master's discretion.

In August Watson sent the Masters a letter raising the quota. Then last week those juniors and seniors who last Spring had asked to leave the Houses, but could not because the original quota of 25 had been filled, were given the opportunity to go.

Fun At Winthrop

Under the increased quota, Adams House lost 8 more students, bringing to 33 the total from Adams now living off campus, more than any other house. "A few exceeded the 25, some stayed there and one (Winthrop which has 21 off-campus) didn't," Watson said. "They must be having a lot of fun down in Winthrop," Watson added.

There are now 214 juniors and seniors living off campus, in addition to a currently undertermined number of special cases--married men, musicians desiring unlimited practice time--who don't come under the quotas.

More students were actually allowed off last year than this year (about 10 more), but the decrease in returnees more than makes up the difference.

"When they began to put teeth in the draft," Watson said, "students who had been out of school for a number of years began to say, 'I'm going to get back in under that umbrella.'"

Used Up Backlog

"Almost all the guys are now either back in school, out for just a year or in the service. The backlog may be used up," he concluded.

Watson sets a tentative quota for off-campus living in January of each year, and then revises it several times, following mid-year grades, at the beginning of reading period and at the end of the school year.

Last January, he set the figure at 10 and then raised it to 25 by May 1. In July he decided on the latest increase.

Though all students who had been rejected last Spring because of filled quotas were given a second chance when they came back to school last week, not all of them exercised their option to leave.

Over the summer the Masters and House Secretaries worked on assignments for floaters (those students affiliated with Houses but without rooms) and transfer students. The juggling was effective.

At this time, there are only six floaters still left in the College and, according to Watson's calculations, there are 12 vacancies, six in Lowell House alone. Yesterday afternoon Watson and his staff were considering moving the four floaters in Leverett House into Lowell or into one of the other Houses with vacancies