Upperclassmen Recruited for Yard

F. Skiddy von Stade Jr. '38, dean of freshmen, has introduced a program to recruit upperclassmen to live in the Yard next year and help introduce freshmen to Harvard life.

In letters sent to the upperclass houses Friday, von Stade said he was in search of about 50 volunteers from the classes of '73 and '74 who would "live with freshmen and help them with curriculum planning and generally learning the ropes."

The volunteers would maintain their house affiliations and possibly help to "'usher' some of the freshmen into the house system," von Stade said.

The first attempt to break the isolation that freshmen have faced Since 1931--when the House system began--came seven years ago, when von Stade initiated a plan assigning willing upperclassmen to serve as "big brothers" to freshmen of a particular dorm entry.

That unsuccessful plan was followed by a plan this Fall in which each freshman was affiliated with an upperclass house and assigned to an adviser in that house. Von Stade said that the new plan also has proved to be unacceptable.

"We've decided that the only way to bring the classes together is to have them live together," von Stade said yesterday. He added that his new proposal has not yet been officially approved because of the uncertainty of the housing situation in the Yard next year.

Favorable Reactions

Von Stade said that he has discussed the new program with the 11 House masters and that they looked favorably on the plan. He added that the Committee on Housing and Undergraduate Life also responded favorably.

Von Stade currently is concerned with recruiting only men, but said that if the Yard goes coed, he would be interested in recruiting women also.

Von Stade said that although the Harvard freshman class will be smaller next year, leaving room for the 50 upperclassmen, no final authorization of his plan could be made pending a University decision on whether to make the Yard coed.

He added that he has not yet received much response from upperclassmen on his proposal.