Transfers Will Join Residential Houses

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 is expected to announce within the week that incoming transfer students may be allowed to enter a residential house upon their arrival at Harvard.

The Committee on House Life will meet today to discuss the specifics of the change and how it will affect Dudley House, where transfer students and other non-resident undergraduates are now affiliated.

Although officials say this new policy will help integrate transfer students into regular house life, others are concerned that such a change will hurt the more than 100 non-resident undergraduates associated with Dudley.

Calling this move "very likely," Paul Hanson, Dudley House co-master, said he expects Jewett will allow entering transfer students to join a residential house directly beginning in the fall of 1991.

Hanson said he is "waiting for a final word" from Jewett and is "hopeful" that the dean will make an announcement on the matter this week.

"As co-masters, my wife and I have now completed a series of discussions with representatives from all the different constituencies within Dudley House," Hanson said. Based on these discussions, Hanson said that immediate placement into the residential houses would be "in the best interest of transfer students."

For many non-residential under- graduates, Dudley has served as a supportnetwork for student advising and other servicesregularly provided by the residential houses. Withthe expected change, some administrators said thisrole may be discontinued.

With the departure of the transfer students, itwould not be "viable to have an undergraduatehouse," for the remaining 130 undergraduates, saidThomas A. Dingman, assistant dean for the housesystem.

And Hanson said that he expects Dudley House"will primarily be a graduate house beginning inthe fall of 1991."

Currently, graduate students associated withDudley House significantly outnumberundergraduates. There are now 820 graduatestudents who use the Lehman Hall building, asopposed to 250 undergraduates, 120 of whom aretransfer students.

The Dudley House issue will top the agenda attoday's Committee on House Life meeting. Thepanel, made up of students and faculty who advisethe dean of the College, will likely discuss alist of seven recommendations made by asubcommittee formed earlier this year to considerthe status of the non-residential house.

Among the recommendations are provisions forundergraduates who choose to remain affiliatedwith Dudley House once it becomes primarily agraduate student center, said Daniel C. Tabak '92.

According to Tabak, undergraduate Dudley Houseaffiliates would still receive academic advisingfrom Senior Tutor John Marquand's office, and theywould have access to the facilities of LehmanHall. Undergraduate Council representation and theDudley Co-op would continue.

"Dean Jewett will be listening to the opinions[expressed at today's meeting] and hopefully aconsensus will emerge for the Dudley plan," saidHanson