Committee to Review Faculty's House Role

Dean Ford has announced the formation of a special Faculty committee to study the role of the Faculty in the House system.

The eight-man committee, which will attempt the first major investigation of the House system since the Bender committee's 1950 study, will begin its work this month and will probably report its findings to the Faculty sometime next fall.

George C. Homans, professor of Sociology, will chair the committee. Deans Von Stade and Glimp will also be members.

Ford was unavailable for comment last night, and Homans refused to discuss any aspect of the committee's function. Other Faculty members, however, have suggested that the committee will center its attention on two major problems:

* The lack of contact between Senior Faculty members and the undergraduates in the Houses. "This is not so much a question of interest as of physical difficulties," one Adams House associate said last week. He said that the present House system "does little to encourage close or consistent contact between student and the Senior Faculty."

Paperwork Burdens

* The increasing burden of paperwork on House Faculty. "The paper culture--the recommendations and evaluations of students--has gotten out of hand," one administrator said recently. Possible reforms for the recommendation system might include centralization of the recommendation reports or formation of a secretarial pool from the Office of Graduate and Career plans.

Ford said last week that the committee might also consider problems of "staffing" the houses. "We have to look into the mechanics of getting the positions filled," he said.

Won't Discuss Parietals

Although the committee will examine many long-term issues of House structure, Ford said, it will probably not report on the controversial issues of parietals and student control of Houses that are now being considered by other committees.