CHUL Examines Full Coed Living

At a meeting yesterday of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life, Dean May's subcommittee on co-residency presented a plan to institute co-ed living at all Harvard-Radcliffe Houses next year.

Under the plan, an average of 61 women would be living in each House. To achieve this goal, 272 additional males would move to Radcliffe and 353 more females would move to Harvard.

"The magic unknown," one source explained, "is how many men are willing to move to Radcliffe. We can get this information, not by a poll, but by asking for an earlier decision on possible housing for next year in order to get an indication of exactly how many men will commit themselves to move up to Radcliffe."

"The question is what will happen if the number of people who want to move is smaller than the plan requires," Bruce Chalmers, Master of Winthrop House said yesterday. "Do we abandon the plan or manage with fewer men than we would like?"

One member of the Committee noted that full co-residency might involveforcing some students to move involuntarily.

Concerning the distribution of women throughout the Harvard Houses, the Committee is considering whether to have a critical mass of 50 women in each House or to proportion the number of women according to the size of each House.

The proposed plan's highest priority is to achieve co-residency in all Harvard-Radcliffe Houses. Equitable class balances, relatively small male-female ratios in each House, relatively free choice, and non-transiency follow in order of importance.

Plans for instituting co-residential living among freshmen will be considered later.

Discussion of the meal plan, "the most controversial issue" according to one spokesman, was postponed until next week's meeting.

The Committee heard a proposal yesterday that students be able to buy their way out of their meal contracts for $200.