Freshmen Petition CHUL To Lift Transfer Freeze

Freshmen assigned to Houses they had listed among their bottom three choices voiced their discontent yesterday with a Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life ruling that prohibits them from transferring to a different House until February 1977.

More than 100 freshmen signed a petition demanding that "transfers be allowed immediately, where possible, among disgruntled students assigned to different Houses."

Christopher R. Agee '79, the initiator of the petition, said yesterday he will probably ask CHUL to reconsider its position on transfers when the panel meets this Wednesday.

Eleanor C. Marshall, assistant dean of the College for housing, said yesterday approximately 85 freshmen have asked to be transferred to a different House.

At the CHUL's direction, her office is not taking names of students desiring to transfer to a different House until December 1976.

A subcommittee of the Freshman Council decided last night to recommend that the full council ask the CHUL to end the "transfer freeze." The subcommittee recommended that transfers be allowed when roommate groups in different Houses can arrange a switch.

The CHUL passed a motion early last month prohibiting House transfers among rising sophomores until the end of first semester next year. Jeffrey K. Griffiths '77, CHUL representative from North House and a sponsor of the "transfer freeze" motion, said yesterday that he thought the freeze only applied to transfers into vacant rooms and not to "one-to-one swaps." Marshall said no transfers of any kind will be allowed.

Griffiths added he will seek a clarification from CHUL on Wednesday. "Although I still oppose transfers to fill vacant space, I would favor one-to-one transfers since such switches make people happier without changing the composition of the House," he said.

The CHUL is not likely to change its stand on transfers unless someone presents "an actual, concrete proposal" that creates a fair transfer process, Francis M. Pipkin, associate dean of the Faculty and chairman of the CHUL, said yesterday