HPC, HUC Split over Who Can Alter Size of College

A disagreement over the wording of one article prevented the Harvard Undergraduate Council from approving a joint resolution on the Houses with the Harvard-Radcliffe Policy Committee last night.

The HPC proposal, passed Friday, urged Richard T. Gill's committee on Mather House "to abandon" the option of increasing class size to fill the House. HUC, by vote of 8-7 at its meeting, substituted a weaker statement urging the Gill committee to "discuss the option of increasing class size to fill the House only in the larger context of educational policy and the philosohpy of the House system."

HPC Rejects

Two HPC officers, who had been empowered by the HPC to accept changes in the proposal, rejected the HUC version because, said Henry Norr '68, HPC president, "the thrust of the HPC wording is that the (Gill committee should discuss increased class size, while we think they should not discuss it at all."

After Norr announced that the HPC had rejected the amended resolution, a motion was made for the HUC to reconsider its own wording. This was rejected.

It was not decided whether either the HUC or the HPC would present its separate resolution to the Gill committee. Several members of both organizations suggested that having a joint resolution, which would be the first ever, was still "important," and that there should be an additional attempt to produce a compromise.

The HPC proposal included several other parts. They were all accepted by the HUC in its three-hour meeting, believed to be its longest ever.

* That the Gill committee should collect and publish figures on the cost of deconversion and related financial matters.

* That space in Mather House should be alloted to classrooms and seminar rooms for House courses.

* That students should be invited to "participate in the deliberations and decisions of the Committee on Mather House."

The vote on the HUC amendment to the HPC proposal was 7-7, and Thomas Williamson '68, who was acting chairman in the absence of Daniel B. Magraw '68, broke the tie by voting in favor of the weaker version.

Carl A. Baum '69, in defense of the original HPC version, suggested that "it is possible that the decision to expand the size of the college class has already been made."