Housing Group Proposes Greater Role for Harvard

The 1970 Cambridge Housing Convention last Saturday strongly criticized Harvard's present role in the community and demanded increased commitment to low-income housing in Riverside.

At a meeting of about 250 Cambridge residents in St. Mary's church hall, the Convention voted on and passed five resolutions dealing with the housing crisis in Riverside. Three of these dealt with Harvard. They are:

"That Harvard make an immediate commitment to policies and programs that will produce 1000 new units of low-rent housing in the area;

"That Harvard disclose any and all options it has on any property in Riverside and that it commit itself to giving public notice one month in advance of any prospective purchase it intends to make. And that Harvard disclose any and all transactions between the Riverside Press and the Cambridge Electric Power Co. concerning their holdings on Memorial Drive;

"That Harvard should either provide its students with housing outside of Cambridge or decrease all its student enrollment by 1000 students over each of the next five years."

Following the vote on the proposals, Saundra Graham, president of the Riverside Planning Team, said, "It is our intention to make clear to the Harvard Corporation that their commitment has not ended; rather it has just begun. What we have now is a series of high rise monuments along the Charles River as testimony to the fraud that Harvard has any real concern for the preservation of the Riverside neighborhood."

Donald G. Moulton, Harvard coordinator for community affairs, declined last night to comment on the proposals. "There are a lot of very important ideas contained in those proposals, and we have to have time to think them over," he said.

The Riverside area has been the focus of much of the housing controversy because it is the site of the most recent Harvard expansion, most notably Peabody Terrace and Mather House. Riverside is a predominantly low-income area, extending from the Charles River to Howard Street and bordered by Western Ave. and River Street.