Houses Devise Schemes For Room Distribution

A survey of Masters yesterday disclosed that a bewildering variety of priority lists, lotteries, and mathematical formulas are being used to cope with the problem of assigning suites under the uniform room rents system.

The introduction of uniform rents put an end to the old method of distributing rooms according to a student's ability to pay, year in College, and standing with the Master. Now, each House has devised its own system.

Most Houses are combining special consideration for seniors with lotteries, painstaking consideration of individual cases, or attempts to make rooms about equally desirable.

Dunster's system, which the House Committee approved unanimously last night, tries to "depict mathematically the vagaries of human experience," according to Committee chairman John A. Purvis '64. Devised by Andrew G. Faulkner '64, the system favors thesis-writing seniors. It works as follows:

Each student gets a "class priority" number--1000 for those who are now sophomores, 750 for sophomores now in Claverly, 500 for non-honors seniors, and zero for honors seniors. Then each man draws a "lot priority" number between 100 and 500 in a lottery to be held next Monday and Tuesday.

If a student is applying for his present room, his class priority number becomes his final number. If not, he adds his class and lot number to get his final number. A group of roommates then adds the sum of its individual numbers to a "grouping number" (250); the result is a "group priority."

Students are then offered their choice of rooms; roommates with the lowest "group priority" numbers are given first choice. Purvis claims that this system eliminates haggling and distributes rooms impartially among groups with equal claims to them.

Leverett and Quincy Houses have opted for less complicated lotteries. Both are giving seniors priority and allotting rooms among members of the same class by lot. Students may stay in their present rooms if they like, except residents of the top five floors of Leverett Towers, who must enter the lottery.

Eliot, Lowell and Winthrop Houses are trying in varying degrees to make rooms more or less equally desirable. John H. Finley '25, Master of Eliot House, said yesterday that about 150 of the 400 places in the House had been affected.

Finley said that many upper-floor suites have been consolidated to provide more single bedrooms. Suites with single bedrooms, he said, have smaller rooms, are on upper floors, and lack windows overlooking the Charles. "We may be badly deceived," Finley added, "but we hope we can even things out enough to solve the problem equitably."

Lowell House has instituted few new combinations. Instead, fewer students have been assigned to rooms now considered cramped and men have been added to spacious rooms. Most of Lowell's "club triples," for example, will house four men next year. Lowell has given priority to honors seniors and others with special needs.

Both Finley and Zeph Stewart, Master of Lowell House, are anxious to avoid lotteries. "We hope not to have too many conflicts," Stewart said yesterday. "We'll turn to giving suites to students who have high marks or have performed some service to the House only as a last resort."

David E. Owen, Master of Winthrop House, said yesterday that Winthrop "hasn't realy gotten started yet" in attacking the problem. He said Winthrop would like to equalize suites, but structural problems are making this difficult.

Kirkland is the only House which is not giving priority to those who want to keep their present suites. Charles H. Taylor, Master of Kirkland House, said yesterday it would be unfair to let some men keep their rooms "because they got those rooms on a price basis" in the first place.

Taylor has been working for the past three weeks trying to decide fairly which of the 90 seniors who want single bedrooms should get the 60 places available. One criterion has been that advanced standing seniors who expect to stay a fourth year will be treated as juniors.

Reuben A. Brower, Master of Adams House, said yesterday he expects to follow more or less the same procedure as Kirkland's Taylor