Whitla Discusses House System Study With CHUL, Plans Objective Review

Dean K. Whitla, director of the Office of Tests, yesterday discussed plans for his study of the House System with members of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life (CHUL). The study, funded by a $25,000 grant from the ESSO Education Foundation, will be made available on a national basis when it is completed.

More Data

Whitla said that he intended to employ more objectivity and data than previous studies have. All of the previous reports have been the observations of a single person, he said. Whitla plans to collect data through interviews and extensive questionnaires to be sent to about 100 residents in each House.

In his application for the grant from the foundation last January, Whitla said that Harvard Faculty members are divided in their opinions concerning the role of Houses in future years. One group feels that each House should offer more House courses and eventually maintain a permanent faculty, while another group says that the College should become more centralized.

David L. Johnson '74, Adams House representative to the CHUL, said yesterday that members of the CHUL doubt whether say study of the system could be objective, but that they would probably assist Whitla in his study. "He asked each of us to interview two people with opposing views on the House System and to write a paper on the issues which were raised," Johnson said.