Mather Population Will Decrease 9% Next Year Under New Crowding Plan

Almost 40 fewer undergraduates will live in jam-packed Mather House next year, making it 'he only House to see a significant population drop under the College's new crowding redistribution plan, according to statistics released yesterday.

Instead the burden of overcrowding will fall primarily on I Lowell, North, Dunster and Adams Houses, whose current populations will increases, by 30, 22, 15 and 2 students respectively.

In other action at its meeting yesterday, the committee also received statistics on the ratios of men to women in the Houses and discussed possible complications in a plan to house transfer students at Peabody Terrace next fall.

Overcrewding Plan

The overcrowding plan, approved early last month to even out the unequal distribution of crowding among the 12 residential Houses, changed the number of freshmen assigned to the Houses in this year's lottery.

While redistributing the burden of overcrowding College officials also had to find space for 30 more freshmen than usual and 28 transfer students. Those increased numbers aggravated the already nettlesome problem of campus-wide overcrowding, which administrators have attributed to a recent surge in popularity of on-campus living.

One of the three Jordan Co-ops on Walker St. will bear some of this load by hosting Currier House students Freshman House Assignments Graphic Michael D. Knobler House  Total  Men  Women  Ratio M:W Adams  131  73  58  1.26:1 Cabot  118  60  58  1.03:1 Currier  146  80  66  1.21:1 Dunster  120  80  46  1.74:1 Eliot  144  94  50  1.88:1 Kirkland  128  68  60  1.13:1 Leverett  161  96  65  1.48:1 Lowell  154  95  59  1.61:1 Mather  116  58  58  1.001 North  123  66  57  1.16:1 Quincy  143  84  59  1.42:1 Winthrop  128  77  51  1.5:1 Totals  1618  931  687  1.36:1

who choose to live there, Currier Co-Master Georgene Hershbach said yesterday. Hershbach said the House may install computers in the building, which, coupled with its single rooms, would make the annex attractive to thesis-writing seniors.

Sex Ratios

The College also released statistics yesterday on the ratios of men to women placed in the Houses in this year's lottery. Next fall, Eliot Houses sophomore males will outnumber females almost two to one, while Mather will strike an even one-to-one balance.

In 1983, the College set bounds on sex ratios in the Houses, with a ceiling of two males to one female and a floor of one to one, Males now outnumber females at Harvard roughly four to three.

The Committee on House Life also discussed possible complications in a plan approved last fall to house groups of transfer students in the University-owned Peabody Terrace apartments during their first year at Harvard.

The College still plans to implement the alternative next fall. However, several factors-including a proposed 20 percent rent hike for the apartments, non-uniform rents, and the problem of leases beginning at different times in the year among other problems-may put Peabody Terrace "out of the attractive market," said Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59.

Members of the committee suggested negotiating with Harvard Real Estate (HRE), the University subsidiary which manages the property, to limit or cancel the increase for undergraduates.

However, Fox said that it's extremely difficult to go back to them and ask for better than market rates for undergraduates."

Under a recently approved plan, transfer students are not offered a spot in the residential Houses until space becomes available in the second semester of their junior year, and are guaranteed housing as seniors

who choose to live there, Currier Co-Master Georgene Hershbach said yesterday. Hershbach said the House may install computers in the building, which, coupled with its single rooms, would make the annex attractive to thesis-writing seniors.

Sex Ratios

The College also released statistics yesterday on the ratios of men to women placed in the Houses in this year's lottery. Next fall, Eliot Houses sophomore males will outnumber females almost two to one, while Mather will strike an even one-to-one balance.

In 1983, the College set bounds on sex ratios in the Houses, with a ceiling of two males to one female and a floor of one to one, Males now outnumber females at Harvard roughly four to three.

The Committee on House Life also discussed possible complications in a plan approved last fall to house groups of transfer students in the University-owned Peabody Terrace apartments during their first year at Harvard.

The College still plans to implement the alternative next fall. However, several factors-including a proposed 20 percent rent hike for the apartments, non-uniform rents, and the problem of leases beginning at different times in the year among other problems-may put Peabody Terrace "out of the attractive market," said Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59.

Members of the committee suggested negotiating with Harvard Real Estate (HRE), the University subsidiary which manages the property, to limit or cancel the increase for undergraduates.

However, Fox said that it's extremely difficult to go back to them and ask for better than market rates for undergraduates."

Under a recently approved plan, transfer students are not offered a spot in the residential Houses until space becomes available in the second semester of their junior year, and are guaranteed housing as seniors