Commuter Rise Possible In Future, Monro Says

A rise in the commuter population of the College is as likely as a continued decline, Dean Monro asserted Wednesday. Commuters, who once constituted more than 25 per cent of the students body, now number approximately 300.

Monro pointed out that in previous years, particularly before the advent of the House system, a large percentage of the College commuted. "If things went on this way for 300 years, it's hard to say that the last 25 years prove there will be few commuters from now on," Monro said.

"College residence is an aspect of good times," Monro said. If financial conditions should become more severe, more students might want to live at home, he claimed.

Furthermore. changing admissions standards (and possibly higher financial requirements) at other schools might bring about an increase in the commuter population, Monro said. "If a local boy has a choice of living at Dartmouth or commuting at Harvard, he'll probably go to Dartmouth," he explained, but increasing stiffness all around" may not give students such a choice in the future.

Forced Commuting Mentioned

Monro added that it may be possible "to admit people especially to commute." Policy of "forced commuting" two years ago was not very successful, he noted, and asked, "Is forced commuting necessarilly poisonous?"

Monro made the point about the un-unpredictability of the commuter population in order to emphasize the difficulties in the eventual demolition of Dudley House will bring. When Dudley is torn down to make room for the new Holyoke Center, the College will be faced with few alternatives, Monro said: distributing commuters among the Houses, or creating a new center for them.

Commuter Group May Grow

If the commuter group remains small, as at present, it could be divided among the Houses, "although some Houses already feel they are doing too much chasing." Monro said. But if the number of commuters went up after the demolition of Dudley, "the Houses would say the College had to stop admitting them. Even we would have to re-institute Dudley or block admission to a certain section.

A difficulty in affiliating commuters at the Houses is that "activities in the Houses are planned for residents. This might be rough on commuters," Monro and Dean Watson pointed out that a special committee study found "quite a corporate spirit" among the 700 commuters then in Dudley House.