House Study Shows Large Differences

The student populations of the 12 undergraduate Houses vary significantly in terms of grade point averages (GPA), ethnicity, sex ratios and participation in athletic activities, a study of the Houses shows.

GPA means range from a low of 10.9 to a high of 11.9, according to the study, distributed recently to House masters and subcommittee of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life (CHUL).

The study also shows that Black student populations range from a low of 2.1 per cent in one House to 25.8 per cent in another, and that the proportion of students participating in sports ranges from 5.6 per cent in one House to a high of 46.6 per cent.

The study identifies the Houses only by numbers, which were randomly assigned for purposes of computer analysis. It does not specify which statistics correspond to particular Houses.

Several masters and students who have seen the study said yesterday that while they were not surprised by most of the variations in House populations, they did not expect such extreme differences.

"Many of these statistics were significant and were of a magnitude that did surprise me," William H. Bossert '59, master of Lowell House and a member of the CHUL subcommittee on House systems, said yesterday.

Bossert added, however, that he did not think the differences necessitated any changes in the House lottery system. "The cures are all worse than the problems," he said, adding that the alternatives to the current lottery system were assigning students randomly or letting masters choose residents, neither of which he favored.

Glenn J. Moramarco '81, a member of the House systems subcommittee, said yesterday the differences in GPA were the only ones that surprised him. He also said he was most concerned about the lack of certain groups of students in some Houses.

"When you look at a House that has no minority students, it's very easy for that segment of the Harvard community to feel they're unwelcome in those places--it's not unreasonable for them to feel uncomfortable," he added. Seven Houses have a smaller proportion of Black students than the average for all Houses, 8.1 per cent, the study shows.

Both Moramarco and Lydia P. Jackson '82, president of the Black Students Association and a resident of Currier House, said they think Currier is the House with the 25-per-cent Black population.

Although she said she could not explain why Currier's Black student population is so high, Jackson said she thinks "House masters and other University officials should recognize that minorities are not commodities to be distributed around the University."

She added that "any change in the House system that would try to do so would be damaging to Third World Students."

Susan A. Neer, housing officer and a member of the CHUL subcommittee, said yesterday. "Although it's nice to have a real overall mix in a House, I think there are a lot of negative aspects in trying to engineer changes."

The study, which the CHUL sub-committee will discuss further, also shows that the percentage of women in the Houses ranges from a low of 27.8 per cent to a high of 43.9 per cent.

The percentage of students who attended select New England private schools is inordinately high--16.4 per cent--in one of the Houses. The next highest percentage of students in that category is 9.2 per cent, and the lowest is 3.1 per cent.

Similarly, the percentage of students who attended Andover or Exeter Academies is 9 per cent in one of the Houses--the same one that has a high proportion of students from New England private schools--compared with a 4.2-percent average in all the Houses.

Dean K. Whitla, director of the Office of Instructional Research and Evaluation and coordinator of the study, said recently the report does not give names of the Houses because "the real intellectual issue is: "Are the differences among the Houses greater than we should have in this community?