Sophomores Protest New Housing Plan

Eliot House sophomores now living in Canaday Hall are protesting a housing plan that they say will deny them the rooming preference that Alan E. Heimert '49, master of Eliot House, promised them last fall.

Peter A. Biagetti '78, spokesman for the 37 students in Canaday D-entry, said yesterday the tentative plan to crowd juniors into the living rooms of each suite violates an understood agreement with Heimert and the House administration.

The Canaday residents were promised preferential treatment next year as "compensation" for having to live in the Yard this year, he said.

"They are setting us up to renege on that promise," Biagetti said, because the new plan would treat the Canaday students on an equal footing with those who lived in Eliot House this year.

Heimert was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The students sent a letter to Heimert last week, suggesting a meeting with representatives of the house administration to settle their differences.

Paul S. Goodof '71, assistant senior tutor of Eliot House who is in charge of housing arrangements, said yesterday that he and Heimert are still formulating a response to the students' letter.

In a similar situation, sophomores in Canaday's Kirkland House entry requested late last month that the House Committee guarantee them a choice of the first 50 spots in the sophomore housing lottery.

They said members of the House administration promised them this last year.

The Kirkland House Committee, however, voted later last month to guarantee the students a choice of only the first 70 spots.

James A. Cox '77, chairman of the committee, said yesterday that the committee had chosen to award a different guarantee because it was not clear what if any promise had been made to the students