House-Breaking

If there has been excited talk about anything this year there has been excited talk about the Houses. Almost as if they had just been discovered, suggestions for the fulfillment of the Houses have proliferated monthly. Speculators have suggested that faculty offices be put in the Houses, that sections be held there, that graduate students be drawn into the System--in short, that the University become House-wise. With the new House in the planning we find ourselves tempted to add yet another proposal to the heap: why not design several suites which would accomodate married tutors?

Reactionaries may fear creeping domestication, envisioning perambulators cluttering courtyards and diapers fluttering to the breezes. The new House could be designed, however, with the marital section built around a small courtyard of its own, possibly facing the master's house. Or perhaps tutors could be paid so little that they could not possibly afford to have babies. At any rate, the problem is not insoluble.

The only other problem which presents itself is the installation of kitchen units. And this expense would be well worth the added inducement to prospective tutors. Given the face that tutorial is Harvard's outstanding claim to uniqueness and (on occasion) excellence, and given also the fact that tutors are underpaid, overworked, and a little anxious about appointment, something might well be done to make their role a bit more attractive. For married tutors who have been unable to find lodgings except in some remote area of Cambridge, this alteration would be of great help. And as for the disgruntled single tutor, there is no telling how many honest men the change might make.