Late Applications Cause Snarl in Housing Office

When several hundred students registered for the Summer School at the last minute, it was a nightmare for the Housing Office.

Maybe nightmare isn't the right word. Lorrie Hickey, director of housing for the summer school, did not even have a chance to sleep Saturday night, let alone dream. She and her staff were too busy getting ready for registration yesterday and today.

Only a couple hundred of the approximately 1800 students Harvard expected to house had to visit the housing office for rooming assignments, but many of these students waited about four hours to get rooms.

Many of the students in line had applied within the past week or even at registration, and the housing office did not immediately know where to put them.

So it opened up Pennypacker. Greenough, Grays and Claverly Halls to ease the strain in the other filled houses and dorms. "We give no guarantees on housing but everybody should get a room." Michael M. Jacobs '81, a housing office staff member, said last night.

Jacobs added that late applicants had caused most of the congestion at the housing office, but computer errors had also hindered the rooming process. "The computer system is unwieldy in the way it is applied to housing. "Kevin O'Sullivan '81, a proctor in Matthews Hall, said yesterday.

"If it weren't for Lorrie Hickey's stamina the line would be much longer." Jacobs said, adding that the delays were not caused by disorganization in the housing office.

The Summer School does not have a deadline for applications, but Wayne Ishikawa, dean of the Summer School, froze registration about a week ago, Jacobs said. There are about 3500 students in the entire Summer School program, he added.

Ishikawa selected additional proctors over the weekend in an all-night process' Jacobs said. Each proctor will monitor between 20 and 50 students, he added.

But students waiting in the housing office line for rooms did not always appreciate the administration's effort at finding rooms. "It's a disaster, "one student said, adding, "i asked for a room in the medical area and got one on the fifth floor of a dorm with broken pipes."

Davin E. Larson, a summer student, said yesterday, "It's a big mistake, probably by a computer.