Houses Committee Denies Request for Student Seats

The Harvard Undergraduate Council's request for three non-voting student representatives on the Faculty Committee on Houses has been rejected, although the Committee will discuss the matter again at its May meeting.

A similar request to the Committee on Educational Policy has not yet received an official answer, and HUC leaders are pessimistic about their chances for success.

The Committee on the Houses "is better able to discharge its responsibilities without permanent student members," Dean Ford wrote in his reply to the HUC request.

He said that it is more effective to seek student opinion on an ad hoc basis, that is, seeking student consultation on individual issues.

"Emergency"

The HUC met in an "emergency" meeting Thursday night and passed a four-point resolution stating steps to counter the decision:

* Circulate a petition asking for student representatives on Faculty committees throughout the College

* Coordinate meetings in all the Houses to discuss the role of students in the University's decision-making process and to outline political steps for bringing about the desired changes

* Mobilize support for the request among sympathetic Faculty members and present the question at the next Faculty meeting

* Meet individually with Members of the Committee on House to plan constructive action on the request at the Committee's May meeting.

The HUC also established committees to consider further plans for action if the present program fails and, if necessary, to organize student demonstrations for seats on the Faculty groups. Another committee was set up to consider alternative requests to the Committee on Houses.

"The Committee on Houses has underestimated the intensity of student desires for representation," Jeffrey C. Alexander '69, HUC vice-president, said yesterday. "Their constant snubbing of student opinion--with parietals and Afro's current demands--shows they don't understand that students today are learning to respect their own legitimacy and their own power," he added.

The Committee on Houses "recognizes the force on HUC's desire" to have student-Faculty consultation regularized, Dean Ford said.

At least one member of the Committee on Houses has said the reply "was not a rejection." Charles W. Dunn, Master of Quincy House, said yesterday, that the Committee did not have enough time to consider the proposal thoroughly and to decide if it agrees with the basic philosophy behind the request.

Several HUC members, led by Lance E. Lindblom '70, said they favored more radical action in response to the Committee's decision, including sit-ins and demonstrations, if their demands were not met. Stephen H. Kaplan '69, head of HUC, said he was discouraged by the Committee's response but was happy that discussion of the issue was being encouraged.