HAUNTED HOUSES

When the first allotment of House assignments was announced last week, 308 of the 795 Freshmen who had applied found themselves left out in the cold. As in other springs, there was sad and bitter talk around the Yard of the inadequacy of Harvard's House system-perhaps more this year than in the past, since even less Freshmen than usual got into Houses at the first crack.

It was three years ago, when the annual waiting list had climbed well over the 200 mark, that the House system first began to feel the pressure. Dean Hanford, in his annual report for 1938, pointed out the need for a new House. And last spring the House masters, who had previously refused to budge, accepted two reforms proposed by the Student Council-associate memberships and giving preference to upperclassmen in admitting men to full membership in the Houses.

These changes have to a great extent alleviated the pressure on the Houses. At all times during the past year there have been approximately 80 men affiliated with Houses as associate members. By giving upperclassmen considerable preference, the Housemasters have made it possible for almost all undergraduates to spend at least one or two years in the Houses. For example, there were only two Seniors on the waiting list last winter. And last week, only 52 upperclassmen who applied were turned 'down-as compared with 144 in 1937.

Such measures are excellent stopgaps, but they cannot remove the real need for an eighth House. The Houses play a paramount part, both socially and intellectually, in the College. They should be for all undergraduates, not almost all. If there is no possibility of getting some rich angel to donate a new House, some other way must be found; possibly an eighth House could be financed on a self-supporting basis.

For the present, though, Housemasters and Central Committee are doing an excellent job. It would be much easier for them if rigid admission standards were set up. At Yale, only other University with a set-up similar to Harvard's, all upperclassmen plus Freshmen on the dean's list are guaranteed admission to the Colleges, and a central committee assigns them to rooms almost arbitrarily. At Harvard the task is more difficult. As One weary tutor said last week, "We might almost be in the hotel business." Harvard's complicated and flexible admission system may give Housemasters, Deans, and tutors headaches, but it saves them for the undergraduates.