The plan stresses polarity between Quad Houses and River Houses. "Some Houses are way over-subscribed, some are way undersubscribed. I think more people are willing to accept the premise that they will have a wellrounded Harvard experience at any House. It's not a matter of life or death which architecture they live in," Fox says.
The fact that students continue to transfer between Houses shows their willingness to stay in a House is not complete, regardless of the factors on which they base their decision. Improvements in the transfer system make this a more viable alternative to remaining unhappy in a House you dislike.
"Formerly, the transfer process used to be a significant hassle," Spence says. If a student wished to transfer, he put his name down on a list at the office of Eleanor C. Marshall, former assistant to the dean of the College for housing, and hoped for the best.
"Currier was my tenth choice. I lived there for a semester and then left. But it was a bitch to move. The whole transfer process was run by one woman. The only way to move someplace good was to pull strings by talking to someone inside the House, like a tutor, and having him put in a good word for you", Joan D. Channick '78 said.
Spence says the new system avoids these hassles by giving more responsibility to the Houses (applications are made to the House one wishes to move to rather than to a central office) and by allowing students to transfer only at certain designated times during the year so that there is less confusion about who is moving where and when.
The advantages of House living at Harvard, such as the small personal atmosphere, make it an attractive system to many, Houses provide the College with one of the only mechanisms available for efficiently reducing the overwhelming impersonality which could easily dominate an institution of this size. Administrative changes in Housing policy have been directed toward giving the Houses more autonomy, and making them something to be held in awe by freshmen, and accepted by upperclassmen