Don't Annex Apley To Harvard Yard

"The foundation of student life at Harvard-Radcliffe is the residential housing system," beings a Freshmen Deans Office brochure entitled "Living in a Dorm Setting," and we agree. That is precisely why we were disheartened when Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 recently announced: "In response to the strength of the pools of applicants...in recent freshman classes," Harvard will increase the number of first-years in future entering classes by roughly thirty students.

This move is distressing because starting next year it will land some 30 first-years in Apley Court, a dormitory isolated from all other first-year housing. With Harvard buildings spilling out way beyond Harvard's adorned gates, it is clear that the days of a "College in a Yard" are long gone.

But are the kids these days so darn smart that the College should undermine its housing philosophy just to accommodate thirty more of them? We tend to doubt it.

Housing all first-years in a series of dorms at the center of the campus is an ideal well worth preserving. For first-years in the Yard, there are literally hundreds of potential friends within steps of each dorm's doorway, a nearly endless supply of ideological foes and drinking buddies. The sheer fact of geography, however, will severely limit the breadth of Apley residents' exposure to 3 a.m. political debates and spontaneous snow football games. And neither the high ceilings nor the claw-footed bathtubs of Apley Court will change this fact.

Attempting to put a positive spin on the decision, Associate Dean of Freshmen in Residence Lorraine Sterritt argued, "These students will be as close if not closer [to the Yard] than those living in the Union dorms." But past expansion cannot justify another round of housing sprawl, let alone one that will land a dorm between the Hasty Pudding Club and the Delhi Darbar restaurant. And even if Hurlbut, Pennypacker and Greenough no longer have the Union, at least they have each other.

Unfortunately, this is not the only disturbing implication of the decision to boost the size of the first-year class; in addition, the number of slots allotted for transfer students will be reduced in order to maintain the current overall College population.

Cutting back on transfers--one of the community's vital sources of fresh energy and talent--cannot be seen as a consistent step for an administration which champions diversity at every turn. Transfer students bring with them distinct academic perspectives. More importantly, they come to Harvard having seen the advantages and disadvantages of undergraduate life at other schools and can use this informed perspective to change Harvard for the better.

If Deans Knowles and Lewis are truly committed to the betterment of Harvard, they will rethink their decision to increase the size of future entering classes. No matter how talented the pools of applicants, the College should not take steps which require it to taint the residential housing system and its commitment to diversity. These two pillars of the Harvard vision, after all, are significant parts of what makes it such an attractive college in the first place.