SENIOR DORMITORY ASSIGNMENTS.

A suggestion has been made by members of the Junior class that the exclusive assignment of rooms in three Yard dormitories to members of the Senior class would be a more valuable custom if men were allowed to apply in larger groups than at present. Under the existing rules a preference is given to applications made by groups of four, and the most desirable rooms are secured on these applications. It is believed that if these groups could be increased to twice or four times that size, or if groups of men were allowed to take up an entry, the real aims of the Senior segregation would be better secured.

That the reservation of three dormitories for the Senior classes has some very decided attractions is attested by all who have spent their Senior year in one of these buildings. Even those who on principle oppose such grouping of classes, will admit that the development of class and College spirit is encouraged by it. And if the system as a whole is good, any change in the details of its administration which would make it more popular, is worth trial.

It may be urged against such a change as we here suggest that the primary object of the Senior dormitory plan is that the members of a class may be heterogeneously mixed, and that friendships and acquaintances may be extended. As a matter of fact, the conditions are quite otherwise. Senior year is not the time when new friendships are formed; it is rather the occasion for the intensifying of old friendships. The groups of four or of two keep to themselves, and it often happens that men living in the same entry are entire strangers to each other.

It is one of the greatest attractions of private dormitories and rooming houses that congenial men may get together in groups, of any size. The regulations of such buildings are designed to accommodate men of this class. Under the existing College rules such men find no encouragement to live in the Yard, and in fact are almost forced to go elsewhere. We are heartily in favor of a more elastic system of assignment of Yard rooms, particularly of the rooms in Senior dormitories.