Faculty Council Approves Fox Housing Proposal, Decision Left to Rosovsky

Dean Fox's controversial proposal to revamp the housing system moved one step closer to implementation last week as the Faculty Council unanimously approved the plan at its regular meeting last Wednesday.

The plan will next be discussed at the next meeting of the full Faculty on February 15, but the final decision on it rests with Dean Rosovsky.

Fox declined to comment at length on the council's decision yesterday, saying only that he was "glad most people thought it was a good plan."

The Fox Plan eliminates sophomore housing in Canaday Hall and means the end of four-class housing at the Quad, turning the Quad Houses into three-year Houses like the River Houses.

No Reason Not To

Stanley M. Hoffmann, professor of Government and a member of the Faculty Council, said yesterday he posed the status quo against the Fox Plan and "I couldn't find any reason not to implement it [the Fox proposal]."

Hoffmann added he thought "the Quad has real problems, but they are separate from this issue. I think the new plan will be a good thing."

The council meeting last Wednesday heard J. Woodland Hastings, master of North House, and Giles Constable, Lea Professor of Medieval History, who spoke against the proposal, after hearing the plan's proponents in previous weeks.

Hastings yesterday termed the decision "unfortunate," adding the proposal was detrimental to the overall housing situation at Harvard.

"The plan further favors the River Houses over the Quad, but since it's not yet final we can still hope the issue will be resolved favorably," Hastings added.

But one guest who had previously appeared before the council as a witness for the plan disagreed. Laura G. Fisher, senior tutor in Eliot House, called the council's approval a "sound decision," and refused to comment further.

William H. Bossert '59, McKay Professor of Applied Mathematics and master of Lowell House, who also appeared as a proponent of the plan, concurred.

"I'm talked out, and I'm just glad something is finally to be decided. It's Rosovsky's decision, and I'm willing to see him do it," Bossert, who said he had supported the plan himself since late fall, said yesterday.

"As far as I can see, there are just real strong arguments for it, and few against it," Bossert said.

The council also heard last week from Rev. Peter J. Gomes, minister in Memorial Church, and L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions and financial aid.

Gomes, a member of the Advisory and Counseling Task Force that recommended the continued existence of four-year Houses and a dissenter from their report, called the council's action of last Wednesday "a reasonable thing to do."

"I'm just glad to see things over with," Gomes said, adding, "I approve wholeheartedly."

Jewett spoke on what he called the necessity of a unified freshman year--the need to keep all freshmen together in the Yard.

"There are other arguments, but on balance, it's the most practicable approach available to us at this point in time," Jewett said yesterday.

The final decision now rests with Dean Rosovsky, who must bring the council's decision up for discussion at the next meeting of the full Faculty. "They discussed it three or four times, and I'm glad they came to a decision," Rosovsky said yesterday.

But Rosovsky, who is thought to favor the plan, refused to say any more, evading the question that comes next--will he approve the controversial proposal?

"I'd rather not say," Rosovsky said