Radcliffe's Utopia

Radcliffe seems to be living in a dream world of superspeed construction, expanding walls and shrinking people. In arranging housing for next year, the college faces a great number of difficulties, none of which will be solved by current plans.

The first unit of the Fourth House will not be completed when school opens; financial problems necessitate the closing of two off-campus houses; and the large increase in room-and-board rates for off-campus students has created an unprecendented demand for private apartments and space in the cooperatives. By trying to solve these problems in a manner which will enhance the residential nature of Radcliffe, the college has come up with Utopian solutions which satisfy no one.

* Because the Fourth House will not be completed by this fall, the college will provide "temporary housing"--for an indefinite length of time--for approximately 70 students, including thesis-writing seniors and new freshmen. These people will be crowded in, sometimes with strangers, as third residents in double apartments or as second residents in tiny economy doubles.

* The number of private apartments has been limited to 30, although there were 70 applicants with admittedly valid reasons for moving out of college housing. The room drawing which was devised for handling the situation resulted in such absurdities as forcing 22-year-old seniors who have lived aboard and in 83 Brattle for the past two years to move back to brick dorms.

* Radcliffe is closing 83 Brattle Street to undergraduates, despite its huge oversubscription for the current year. It is being converted to graduate housing because it is supposedly difficult for graduate students to find adequate non-Radcliffe housing. But graduate students may live wherever they choose, while undergraduates are severely restricted by college regulations.

These actions have created dissatisfaction among students who dislike dormitory living, and have not ended overcrowding in brick-dormitories with economy doubles.

Instead, the first unit of the Fourth House should be used to provide space for the deconversion of economy doubles. People living in overcrowded rooms would be glad to move into the new building when it is finished--estimates range from late October to December.

Retaining 83-Brattle as undergraduate housing would ease the immediate housing crisis without causing the financial drain the College fears. If undergraduates were allowed to live in the building on a full room-and-board basis, the gross income to Radcliffe would far exceed the rent the college will collect from other tenants.

Keeping 83 Brattle Street would also provide flexibility in housing and give undergraduates a chance to live as residence application statistics indicate they want to.