Committee Examines Co-Ed Room Proposal

Discussion of co-educational rooming groups surfaced again yesterday as the Committee on House Life (COHL) launched its evaluation of a proposal by the Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH).

Committee members will consider the proposal this spring. But Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 said, as he had when CLUH released the report last month, that it would be impossible for COHL to reach a consensus on co-ed rooming before next fall.

The house masters, the dean of first-years, President Neil L. Rudenstine and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles will also be consulted on the rooming issue.

Jolyon A. Silversmith '94, co-director of CLUH, said he was "fairly pleased" with the meeting.

"Considering the difficulties of implementing such a proposal, they gave us a fair hearing," Silversmith said.

The CLUH report says students should be able to decide if they want to "share bathrooms, bedrooms, common rooms and other elements of housing" with members of the op- posite sex.

The report included a survey indicating that 85percent of Harvard students support co-ed roominggroups.

But some COHL committee members said that itdoesn't matter how many students are in favor of aco-ed rooming option.

Instead, they would like to know how manystudents would actually transfer.

One COHL member suggested the possibility ofallowing only seniors to form the co-ed roominggroups because most seniors have single bedrooms.

The member said that seniors have known eachother longer, and would thus be less likely tohave a problem mid-year--one of the potentiallogistical problems with the proposal.

COHL members will also examine whether suiteswith double bedrooms should be treated differentlythan those with private bedrooms.

They said a co-ed situation might be morereasonable in houses that have suites with singlebedrooms, like the Leverett towers and MatherHouse.

Undergraduate Council members at the meetingsaid the council's subcommittee for residentiallife had mixed opinions on co-ed rooming when itdiscussed the issue earlier this week.

The COHL includes Jewett, council members,house officials, Associate Dean for HumanResources and the House System Thomas A. Dingman'67

The report included a survey indicating that 85percent of Harvard students support co-ed roominggroups.

But some COHL committee members said that itdoesn't matter how many students are in favor of aco-ed rooming option.

Instead, they would like to know how manystudents would actually transfer.

One COHL member suggested the possibility ofallowing only seniors to form the co-ed roominggroups because most seniors have single bedrooms.

The member said that seniors have known eachother longer, and would thus be less likely tohave a problem mid-year--one of the potentiallogistical problems with the proposal.

COHL members will also examine whether suiteswith double bedrooms should be treated differentlythan those with private bedrooms.

They said a co-ed situation might be morereasonable in houses that have suites with singlebedrooms, like the Leverett towers and MatherHouse.

Undergraduate Council members at the meetingsaid the council's subcommittee for residentiallife had mixed opinions on co-ed rooming when itdiscussed the issue earlier this week.

The COHL includes Jewett, council members,house officials, Associate Dean for HumanResources and the House System Thomas A. Dingman'67