OFF-CAMPUS LIVING

To the Editor of the Harvard CRIMSON:

I am one of those living off campus "at the College's convenience." I write in response to the threat that upon the completion of the Tenth House, students will be more effectively restricted to their dormitories. I cannot understand why the College continues to maintain this policy. When I tried to get permission to live off campus last term I was told that Quincy House didn't have all its rooms full, and besides, Dean Watson would never allow it. I assume there is some higher reason. But whatever this reason, living off campus offers many advantages over House life for some. In the first place, University room and board charges are high: one can easily save $100 a year living out. Concentration is easier off-campus. I eat better than I did in Quincy House. In social life, I can avoid the mediocre and dull and offer a meal to the outstanding.

Rather than curtail the privilege of living off, the College should extend it to all seniors. The Houses have something to offer, but no one should be forced to spend three years in them. And if the Tenth House would result in stopping the present trickle of students away from the campus, I would rather see the money for its construction cast into a concrete block and ceremoniously lowered into Boston Harbor. Walter Wanning '63-5