Pusey is Pessimistic on Coed Living Chance

Coed living will be unlikely until Harvard is given authority ever Cliffies living in Harvard Houses, Kenneth M. Kaufman '69, chairman of the Harvard-Radcliffe Policy Committee, said yesterday.

Kaufman, accompanied by Mary K. Tolbert '69, secretary of the HPC, met with President Pusey yesterday for about an hour. They presented Pusey with the HPC "Report on Coeducation at Harvard and Radcliffe."

The Report's recommendations included a short-run exchange for next semester, permanent coed housing on a college-wide basis, and open inter-house as long as separate Harvard and Radcliffe dormitories exist.

Commission Recommended

The HPC Report also recommends the establishment of a multipartite commission to consider long-term coed living at Harvard. The Report states that "ideally, the commission would produce a report, if only a preliminary one, by the end of the current academic year."

Kaufman said that Pusey said the Corporation has taken the position that before coed living will be considered, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences must have control over the Cliffies living in Harvard Houses.

Pusey confirmed last night that as things stand, with divided authority, Harvard could not take on the responsibility of overseeing Cliffies.

Pusey explained that the Corporation is willing to consider any position taken by the Radcliffe Council or the Radcliffe Board of Trustees, Kaufman said. From a policy stance, the Corporation might not be adverse to the possibility of ending the separate status of the two colleges.

Thorny Problems

The next meeting of the Radcliffe Council is scheduled for February 3. Kaufman said that the HPC had hoped a short-term coed experiment could be made without having to "cope with the kinds of very thorny problems that you have to cope with if you consider permanent coeducation on a long-range basis."

Kaufman added that the HPC and the Corporation had "a difference of assumptions." He explained that the HPC assumed "there were arrangements that could be worked out not requiring a total assumption of authority over Radcliffe students."

'Counterproductive'

Miss Tolbert called the Corporation's position "counterproductive." She said that at this point she was "afraid that the impetus will have to come from Radcliffe to initiate coeducational living at Harvard."

Kaufman has appointments next week with Mary I. Bunting, President of Radcliffe, and Dean Ford to discuss coed living. He said that he plans to speak once again to all the Harvard House masters, some of whom have expressed "support for a trial exchange next semester."