Live Houses

INFORMATION about Harvard College for Prospective Students spends four pages extolling the virtues of the Houses--"Harvard's answer to the problem of maintaining a collegiate way of living in a twentieth century college of 4900."

It is obvious that this "answer"--the House system as it now functions--is no longer satisfactory to many undergraduates. A steady stream gratefully moves off-campus every year; others, who remain in the Houses, quietly mumble about the defects of House living such as parietals and crowded suites.

Last week, the Harvard Policy Committee approved its "Report on the Houses," which was essentially a compendium of the perennial complaints about the House system. It also contained suggestions for improving the Houses, but the HPC emphasized that these were not definite proposals, merely a "platform for discussion." As such, the report means little, but it should remind the Administration that the present House system is not universally popular.

Now the HPC and HUC are setting up subcommittees to make detailed studies of the House system. Some will be studying ways to give students a greater voice in setting parieal hours, to allow women to eat at more meals in the Houses. These plans are commendable, but they alone will not make the Houses markedly more alluring than off-campus living.

A MORE promising area for the subcommittee is the educational role of the Houses. The HPC plans to look for ways of adding to the number of House courses. They want to entice more Faculty members and non-Faculty such as artists and musicians to play a greater role--if only over the dinner table--in the Houses. At present, only Winthrop and Lowell Houses offer House General Education courses. Dunster House has a Composer-in-Residence; no other House has a similar post. The Houses are beginning to expand their educational role, but this expansion has been too slow and is far from universal.

The Houses should not become hermetically sealed educational units. House courses should leave spaces open for students from other Houses. If Gen Ed courses were offered in all Houses, the present pressures needed to get into any given course would be lessened and small Gen Ed courses in each House would also give young Faculty members an incentive to create unusual and attractive alternatives to the large Gen Ed lecture courses.

When studying the possibilities of expanding the Houses' educational role, the HPC and HUC should pay close attention to the problem of financing proposed innovations. Even improvements which the Administration agrees would be desirable may not be approved if they look costly and the HPC can't show where the money could come from.