College, House Life Committees to Meet Jointly

The Committee on House Life unanimously supported a proposal yesterday to begin joint meetings with the Committee on College Life.

Citing a general overlap in both the discussions and the memberships of the two committees, Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 asked the house committee to meet jointly with the other student-faculty committee.

"The distinction between the two committees has always been a bit arbitrary. There are very few issues that don't involve both the houses and the College life in some way," Jewett said.

The two committees are part of an advisory system that discusses college issues among students and administrators. While Jewett enacts College policies, he often looks to the committees for support.

Jewett said there is no intent to merge the two committees, but the joint meetings will create "a more interesting agenda."

The two committees have generally focused on separate aspects of Harvard life.

Last year, for instance, the house committee recommended that the College maintain its current non-ordered choice housing lottery, and called for increased flexibility for interhouse transfers.

The College life committee has lately had a somewhat lighter load, focusing on daily operations of campus life, such as the approval of new student groups.

The joint meetings' larger scope will facilitate discussions on such issues as security concerns and the Memorial Hall renovation project, Jewett said.

Jewett originally conceived the idea last spring, but while there was some discussion within the committee, he said he wanted to propose it to the new members this year.

While specific tasks for the joint body will be worked out later, Jewett said subcommittees from either com- mittee will still be charged with investigatingspecific issues. Similarly, the committees maytake separate votes on the issues.

Pending the College life committee's approval,the first joint meeting will take place nextmonth.

Christopher Garofalo '94, who as chair of theUndergraduate Council's student affairs committeeis a member of both the house and College lifecommittees, said Jewett's proposal made sensebecause it would enlarge the scope of themeetings.

"The joint meetings will help facilitate debateand help the committee make decisions easier," hesaid.

Marcie L. Rabin '94, a member of the studentaffairs committee, also supported the proposal.But she expressed concern that the larger groupmight be unwieldy.

"My only hesitation is that we'll lose theintimacy of the small group, but otherwise itsounds good," she said

Pending the College life committee's approval,the first joint meeting will take place nextmonth.

Christopher Garofalo '94, who as chair of theUndergraduate Council's student affairs committeeis a member of both the house and College lifecommittees, said Jewett's proposal made sensebecause it would enlarge the scope of themeetings.

"The joint meetings will help facilitate debateand help the committee make decisions easier," hesaid.

Marcie L. Rabin '94, a member of the studentaffairs committee, also supported the proposal.But she expressed concern that the larger groupmight be unwieldy.

"My only hesitation is that we'll lose theintimacy of the small group, but otherwise itsounds good," she said