On Nice Guys Finishing Last

A number of top-flight members of the freshman class were disappointed last Saturday. Students prominent in football, high rank list groups, and College activities were notified of their assignment to Claverly Hall, traditionally the least desirable of upperclass locations.

Up to this year, these students would have been certain of House residence, but they were chosen as guinea pigs for a new and needed experiment. The Housemasters had decided to give each House a section of floor of its own in Claverly, and to fill the building with a cross section, instead of the least-desired part, of the sophomore class.

Actually, the only substantial disadvantage to Claverly has been its Siberian stigma. The rooms are as good, and the walk to classes actually shorter than from the Houses. But because Claverly in recent years has been filled with cast-offs from the House Selection process, the idea across that the "outhousers" were to be scorned.

Under the new plan, this sigma will quickly disappear. For Claverly residents, chosen deliberately to be as capable in the various fields of undergraduate endeavor as the rest of their class, will soon destroy the stereotype. Once the stigma is gone, the main difficulty a Claverly resident finds in participating in the life of his chosen House will disappear. He will stand for House committee election and play House sports without the assumption that he is at the bottom of his class. Grouping Claverly residents by Houses will also aid this adjustment, for they will be bona-fide House members, instead of "non-residents."

If the men assigned to Claverly next year need solace, they should remember that their disappointment is inaugurating a wise plan. While incoming classes remain large, there cannot be enough room in the Houses for everyone until another House can be built. Someone must live in Claverly, and the knowledge that bad luck, rather than poor reputation, caused the assignment will eliminate bruised feelings.

But Claverly residents do not deserve to be penalized for this act of chance. Claverly's rules should be on a par with the Houses. Library rules and record privileges should be the same for House members, whether they live in Claverly or the House proper, and the parietal rules should be equalized too. Proctors ought to be replaced by resident tutors, for House residents should enjoy no privileges deprived of their Claverly counterparts. Claverly men are first-class Harvard students, and it is unfair to hobble them with second-class citizenship.