To Close the Gaps

The release this week of a new report showing wide demographic gaps among the undergraduate Houses is forcing College officials to confront a problem most say they would prefer to forget about.

Harvard has traditionally liked so think of its Houses as miniatures of the College--what Dean of the College John B Fox Jr. '59 has called "the ideal of the microcosm." But this week's confirmation of lingering disparities between the Houses in the racial composition and athletic participation of residents has dispel led that perception.

As a result, administrators are bracing themselves for a probable series of discussions next fall--most likely in the Faculty Council and among the House masters--which they say will resolve the issue of whether the College should tamper with the generally popular preferential lottery to achieve the microcosm ideal.

The outcome of those conversations remains unpredictable, though Fox and other College officials say they will hesitate to significantly change the current lottery system unless a clear consensus for another method develops.

At present, none of the off mentioned alternatives--quotas, ceilings on the number of students of a given type permitted in a House, or a totally random lottery--seems to draw wide support.

One thing, however, seems almost certain. Next fall will feature a philosophical showdown between two loose camps of officials--those who prize the microcosms goal enought to overcome the practical flaws of other House assignment schemes and those who value the current preferential system and the unique House characters that have developed because of it.

On one side stands a group of University Hall officials who have voiced concern about the racial and athletic disparities neither of which have lessened significantly since a January survey initially uncovered the gaps.

That group whose members are pushing for vigorous review of other lottery option seems to include Fox, Assistant Dean Thomas A. Dingman '67 and Dean K. Whitla, director of the office of instructional research and evaluation who conducted both demographic studies.

My indication is to do something, Fox who has consistently released to rule out any House assignment alternatives said this week. Patting a random group of Harvard students in a House tends to do very good things.

The reason "One has a better college experience if one lives in a House which is broadly representative Dean favor of any scheme which has the promise of doing that.

Opposing that outlook though is an informal group of House masters who have voiced skepticism of alternative House schemes ever since the initial disparities surfaced.

Mather House Co Masters David and Patricia Herlihy and Lowell House Master William H. Bossert '59 tall into this group, willing to support the informal recruitment freshmen but not to limit the preferential system that has allowed close to 90 percent of Yardlings to secure one of their first three choices.

Under approaches like a random lottery, argues Bossert. "A lot of people [would] be less happy in order to make a few people more happy."

In part, the battle centers around the viability of the informal recruiting that some masters attempted this winter before the lottery, in an effort to diversity their Houses.

Fox and Co contend that "as a long run solution, [recruiting] doesn't seem very stable" The masters, through, point to scattered recruiting successes--like Leverett's increased number of athletes projected for next year--and suggest that more serious promotional efforts in the future could redress some gaps.

The bottom line, though is the current demographic breakdown and even those who dismiss structural changes voice concern.

Though racial gaps have closed somewhat over the last four years. Whitla's study projects nearly a sixfold difference between the House with the greatest percentage of Blacks (Currier, with 13 33 percent) and the one with the least (Eliot with 2 31 percent)

Jocks

And more distressing to College officials the gaps in athletic participation will almost certainly not lessen at all next year.

The initial demographic study in January measured the percentage of residents participating in a varsity sport, Kirkland the leader, led with 45 9 percent, with next door neighbor Eliot close behind. This time around, Whitla relied on a little known admissions office statistic the rating the office gives to prospective applicants evaluating the likelihood that they will participate in varsity sports.

And to officials dismay Whitla post lottery study found that the proportion of students top ranked as athletes by the admissions office actually jumped in Kirkland from 18 89 percent to 22.94 percent. The College average is 7 51 per cent next year's lowest House. Lowell is projected to have but 1 28 percent.

The result officials say, may be that for the first time in recent years a Harvard House Kirkland will have over 5 percent varsity sport participation.

And so, those statistics in mind, many administrators and masters can expect to spend the summer readying for a round of talks on the House system next fall that all expect to be provocative, though many doubt will prove fruitful.

Fox, for one, hopes the College can decide swiftly whether to seriously weigh alternative schemes or to give the issue up as hopelessly divisive. "We've spent enough time talking about this."

But if the strong sentiments on both sides about whether the philosophy of the House system is one of diversity or one of free choice indicate anything. University Hall and the masters could be in for a long, hot autumn.