AFTER HARKNESS WHAT?

Concentrating its efforts on the establishment and improvement of the House Plan, the University has devoted absolutely no attention to the rooming facilities of its graduate students. They are given the choice between occupying one of the higher-priced rooms in the Houses or living in the inadequate accomodations supplied by Cambridge residents.

Neither one of these arrangements which has been forced upon the graduate student is a satisfactory solution of the problem. The House Plan was conceived as a scheme exclusively for the benefit of undergraduates. Consequently the libraries are filled almost entirely with volumes required in the courses of the College, and the programs arranged by the House Committees are of interest only to the undergraduates.

Living in one of the Houses, the graduate comes in contact with a group of men whose intellectual outlook is substantially different from his own and whose diverse interests supply no common ground for association and friendship. Isolated in the midst of a group which has already formed exclusive coteries, he never has an opportunity for forming contacts. If, on the other hand he chooses to live in one of the Cambridge households, his situation is immeasurably worse. Completely divorced from congenial associations, often situated at a distance from the Yard, his living accomodations are a definite hinderance to his progress.

In the present financial situation of the University, it is not feasible to advocate a reform which entails the expenditure of much money. Yet there are buildings such as Claverly and Apley Halls, under control of the University, which have been comparatively idle for the past few years and which could be refitted at a nominal expense and devoted solely to the accomodation of the graduates. Located near the libraries, they would give the graduate a more pleasant place to live and would bring him into an environment conducive to the formation of friendships.