Experimentation

THE HPC's arguments for coeducational housing at Harvard and Radcliffe are the standard ones. Lecture courses and even sections aren't much of an atmosphere for the mingling of the sexes and only a lucky few are able to supplement their coed contacts in some extracurricular activity. And so, says the HPC report released last week, Harvard and Radcliffe should offer coeducational dining and housing starting with an experimental exchange next term.

These familiar pleas are backed with solid statistical indications that Harvard and Radcliffe students really want the change. Ninety per cent of the undergraduates polled by the HPC favored the idea of optional coed living accommodations and almost half the Harvard students as well as 60 per cent of the Cliffies said they were willing to pack their bags and move next term. The crowds that gather for lunch every day at Lehman Hall and the huge number of Harvard students who make the trek to Hilles each night confirm just how eager students here are for informal coeducational contacts.

The HPC report hedges on the long-range problems of instituting mixed housing. There may be legal difficulties requiring some kind of merger between Harvard and Radcliffe, and it is not clear whether sexually segregated housing can be or ought to be retained for those who prefer it. But these are the sort of problems one hopes could be worked out during the trial period. The only trouble with the experiment itself is that it may make some undergraduates move who would rather stay put. No one should be forced to move any further than to a room in another entry of his House, and these unfortunates should be given first choice among the vacated rooms.

The experiment's chances for success probably depend on how much undergraduate effort goes into organizing an exchange in the next few weeks, and on the willingness of Radcliffe officials to make the first gestures of mergerism. Even if mixed housing is not tried next term, though, the HPC report ought to alert administrators to the folly of planning the future of the Houses or mapping out schedules of Radcliffe dorm construction without intending to make either coeducational.