Officials Ask Disabled Student To Change His Housing Choice

A disabled student who is seeking to live in Mather House next year has been asked by College officials to agree to live in either Quincy or Currier House, the only two Houses currently equipped for handicapped students.

Benjamin M. Mattlin '84, a quadraplegic currently sharing a double room in Canaday Hall with a paid, full-time attendant, said yesterday he wants to live in Mather House in order to have roommates next year. Quincy and Currier have single and double rooms equipped for the handicapped, but Mattlin said that he would have to decide "whether it's been harmful not to have roommates" this year, and that he has not decided whether to go along with the officials' request.

Mattlin, who as a disabled student was not required to enter the housing, lottery and was instead initially given his choice of houses, said he selected Mather primarily because the rooms there are all large suites, adding that this year he "felt left out and anti-social" because he had no roommates.

Currier and Mather were renovated in 1977 after the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was signed, requiring that all institutions which receive federal funding make their programs and activities accessible to the handicapped.

Thomas E. Crooks '49, Faculty liason to Harvard's working Committee for the Handicapped, said yesterday he had informed Mattlin that the College was "at the moment not prepared" to make the revisions needed in Mather to accommodate disabled students.

Crooks added that the decision, which he made after consulting with Thomas A. Dingman '67, assistant dean for housing, and after gaining the approval of Dean Fox, was not based solely on the high cost of renovations needed to create bathrooms and properly-inclined entrance ramps.

He said the College had decided not to "hastily jump into working on Mather," and instead to "make a real serious, comprehensive effort" to create long range improvements in housing for disabled students.

Crooks acknowledged that the House system "really ought to have more flexibility for disabled students," and said that he and Martha Coburn, associate dean of the College, would get "right to work" to find the best way to renovate additional Houses by the River.

He said he hoped that accommodations for Mattlin in a suite could be made by fall, but added that in the meantime Marttlin should choose between Quincy and Currier.

But Mattlin said only minor revisions are needed in Mather.

Mattlin said he believed he could have "a good argument legally" if he decides against the officials' request because disabled students are entitled to a "choice equivalent to any other student's choice."

Diame Fraser, general counsel to Harvard's Working Committee for the Handicapped, said yesterday, however, that the College's responsibility is to provide "a reasonable choice" for housing, and that she thinks Mattlin has "no legal claim.