Despite Overcrowding in Houses, Most Students Elected To Remain

Students’ fears of being drafted for the Vietnam War, compounded with low dropout and withdrawal rates, caused Harvard undergraduate enrollment levels to rise dramatically in the 1960s. At Radcliffe alone, the student body swelled by roughly 100 students between 1959 and 1967, which administrators at the time said was due to decreasing rates of attrition rather than larger entering classes.

As a result of the higher enrollments, the ten existing Houses became increasingly full in the years leading up to 1970, and while the College did have plans to build more students beds, first in Mather and then in Currier, the years before these openings proved a difficult time for the College and its growing number of students.

The overcrowding had a multifaceted impact upon the student experience: most found themselves in cramped rooming situations, some had to move into overflow housing at Claverly Hall, which is now part of Adams House, and others resorted to leaving the House system entirely for off-campus residences.

By Crimson file photo

In the fall of 1964, about 140 Harvard students made the switch to off-campus housing, with many of them making the choice “out of the College’s convenience” to spare much-needed space in the House system. Meanwhile, at Radcliffe, 32 students did the same.

Despite the close-quartered living conditions, alumni from the era remember their time at Harvard in a positive manner, with many citing their House experiences as a focal point of their college experience. Most students elected to remain in the Houses despite the challenges posed by overcrowding. These undergraduates felt that living among their peers, as well as the robust social environment within the Houses, helped to foster class cohesion and community.

WAR AND PEACE

The problem of house overcrowding was not a new one in the 1960's at the College. Houses first experienced additional population surges in the years shortly following World War II, as many military veterans arrived on campus after the war ended in 1945. In the middle of 1944, fewer than 700 students were enrolled in the College. By 1947, this number had increased more than sevenfold to more than 5300 students.

At the time, newly-passed G.I. bills incentivized the move back to campus, with millions of government dollars poured into living expenses and tuition for veterans, who made up more than half of the class of 1949. To compensate for the growth, the University packed more students into the existing housing stock and built several new temporary residences. The increased enrollment became permanent, as numbers never returned to their pre-war level of around 3500 students.

Nearly two decades later, with the Vietnam War in full swing, male students attending Harvard during the late 1960's adjusted their lifestyles and education plans to avoid the Selective Service, or wartime draft lottery, that was overwhelmingly unpopular among the generation.

The draft placed preference on younger, non-married males who were not enrolled in an institution of higher learning; thus, many students put off leaves of absences that had once been common during one’s tenure at the College, according to current Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67.

In order to evade military service, students forfeited intended leaves and remained at the College, in turn causing the student body to swell and Houses to adjust to the sudden growth. While patriotic duty had led to overcrowding, the lack of active support for a controversial war had the same effect.

FULL HOUSE

The expanded Harvard and Radcliffe student bodies meant that University administrators had to reconcile constrictions of limited space with over enrollment.

According to Dingman, an alumnus of Eliot House, three-person suites were often converted into four-person ones. “Things were tight,” he said. “Eliot House was filled up.”

During Dingman’s sophomore year at Harvard, he and his roommates lived in overflow housing at Claverly Hall to free up space. As of October 1964, around 120 Harvard undergraduates lived in Claverly.

At the time, the College was very “creative with the use of space,” Dingman said.

Still, students and administrators acknowledged that the enrollment situation posed challenges to the residential House system.

"With the 260 students living off or in Claverly and those in suites that should be deconverted, we could almost fill another house right now," then-Dean of the College Robert B. Watson said in an interview in 1964.

The difficulties stretched up Garden Street to Radcliffe Quadrangle, as well.

Catharine P. Roth ’67, who lived in North House, remembers Radcliffe College’s creativity in housing as well. “Some of the larger rooms they divided into small singles,” Roth said. “The singles that they had were pretty small.” According to Roth, bunk beds were also frequently used to save space.

Still, some students, discontented with cramped and uncomfortable on-campus housing arrangements, abandoned the Houses entirely.

George L. Cushing ’65, a former resident of Winthrop House, remembers classmates moving off campus as a result of the conditions. “I had roommates who left and got a place up in Somerville,” he said. Another classmate of Cushing’s who had previously served in the military chose to move off campus after returning to the College. According to Cushing, his classmate preferred having a living space of his own after deployment.

HOUSE AS A HOME

Despite the shortage of space, ultimately most students elected to remain in their respective Houses due to the unique atmosphere of the residential community, the company of their peers, and the convenient central location.

“I stayed in [my House] the whole time,” Roth said. “I was happy to have someone take care of meals and all.”

Many alumni still mention House dining halls as a factor contributing to the richness of their on-campus life.

Cushing said that moving off campus “wasn’t part of what I was interested in. I liked being close on campus, and being in the dining room.” According to Roth and Cushing, dining halls served as a social hub for students, and that the food and environment were generally enjoyed by all.

“I can’t emphasize enough the value of the dining experience,” Cushing said.

Paul H. Guzzi ’65 cited his overall experiences in Eliot House as a significant contribution to his college memories. “The housing experience for me was one of the most positive aspects of my experience at Harvard,” he said.

Additionally, according to Dingman, alternative housing such as Claverly and off-campus residences had an effect of negative displacement from both academic and social spaces. Dingman said that residents of Eliot House proper reaped the benefit of just a short walk from their rooms to the dining hall, unlike the more cumbersome one he and his roommates faced.

“We were taking our meals down in Eliot, so it meant going south down the the River, and north to classes,” Dingman said.

Charles P. Whitlock, a Dudley House tutor in the 1960's, also recognized the difficulties of living off campus at the time.

"The commuting [student] is at somewhat of a disadvantage," Whitlock said in an interview with The Crimson in 1965. "Living at home often makes it impossible for him to meet members of the faculty."

Finally, off-campus residents found it more difficult to participate in extracurricular activities than their peers in the Houses—only small fractions of these students were able to hold leadership positions in student groups, the Crimson reported.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalincunningham@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.