House Members Prepare to Fight For Cliffies This Coming Sunday

Representatives from every House except Dudley are lining up to fight for coed living in their particular House. On Sunday, they will present their arguments before a three-member committee that President Pusey appointed earlier this week.

The committee-whose members are Dean May, Seymour Martin Lipset, professor of Government and Social Relations, and Genevieve Austin, Radcliffe dean of residence-will decide by next Thursday or Friday exactly which Houses will go coed. The meeting will be held at 4 p. m. in Winthrop House's Tonkens Room.

"I think it will be helpful for people to know the decisions before spring vacation." May said. "It's important to get rid of the uncertainty."

The two main plans to be discussed on Sunday are those of the Kagan Committee on Coresidential Living, which suggested a 2-1 male to female ratio, and the Dunster House proposal, which asked for a 4-1 ratio.

The 2-1 ratio would allow four or possibly five Houses to go coed. The Dunster House proposal, on the other hand, would spread girls thinly throughout all the Houses.

Chances for the Dunster House proposal to pass seem very low. May said last night that "the Radcliffe administration has figured thus far that the maximum number [of girls who can move to Harvard] is 440." This figure, he said, is fixed so that freshmen Cliffies will not be the only ones left at Radcliffe.

There are currently 1025 Cliffies living on campus. If the maximum 440 moved to the Houses there would be 585 Cliffies left, 300 of whom would be freshmen.

Assuming 440 Cliffies do in fact move to the nine Houses, as the Dunster proposal suggests, there would be about 50 Cliffies per House.

May, citing a lengthy phone conversation with Yale administrator Elga Wassermann, said, "It does seem 40 or 50 is too small a group. That's been the experience at Yale."

May said he is concerned with having a substantial number of girls in the selected Houses, so that the Cliffies can form female friendships as well as male friendships. He said. Miss Wasserman told him women become uncomfortable when there are not enough women "in absolute numbers, not in ratios."

This statement seems to put the smaller Houses at a disadvantage, un-less they can show that their setting will differ considerably from Yale's. The smallest Houses are Dunster, Winthrop, Adams, and Kirkland.

Of these four, Kirkland seems almost certain of being ruled out. Arthur Smithies, Master of Kirkland House, said "If it's a 2-1 ratio, I would rather we're one of the non-coresidential ones. I'm in favor of the 2-1 ratio."

Two other unlikely candidates are Leverett House and Mather. Richard T. Gill, Master of Leverett House, is on sabbatical this year, and it seems improbable that Leverett would become coed without his advice, especially since he was considered last year as being at best enthusiastic about coed living.

Mather House got off to a late start in organizing its coed drive. The House will lack a full complement of seniors next year, a destabilizing factor which the three-member committee will have to take into consideration. In addition, F, Skiddy von Stade Jr. '38. Master of Mather House, is not considered an active proponent of coed living.

Quincy House might also suffer some disadvantage, because it has only submitted part of its report to May. The House Committee plans to give him the remainder early next week.

Despite these facts, May said, "I don't think it's possible to say at this point in time that any House has a relative advantage in terms of coresidence."

On March 3 the Faculty asked Pusey to appoint an impartial committee to decide on ratios and the specific Houses which would go coed. The names of the committee members were released last Wednesday afternoon.