When he left Harvard for Brandeis University in 1950, Duhig submitted a report to Bender on Dudley Hall and its future. Part of the report reads, "It is perhaps generally considered that residence is a virtue. Actually, it is not such, but a necessity. Students from California, Florida, or Salt Lake City simply cannot commute whether they wish to or not ... The question of which is preferable, to live in residence or sleep at home, is a relative matter which will vary with the individual."

Duhig Stuck With It

Duhig not only believed that the Center is in harmony with the philosophy of a Harvard education, but he also pointed out various problems which would come up in any attempt to integrate commuters with the Houses.

"What does the commuting student who is forced to (by economic reasons) or prefers to bring his sandwiches from home do with them in the Eliot House dining room? The present writer can offer no solution ... Furthermore, in any such plan the overwhelming majority of commuters would suffer from being in a thing of which they were not a real part ... The best solution seems to be an adequate Commuters Center."

Faced with these two opposing views--one of which calls for improving the commuter situation through the Houses, the other through Dudley--the University has done almost nothing in either direction. One reason for the neglect is the fact that the Administration did not want to spend money improving a center which might very well be abolished completely.

So, while the University did nothing, the commuter brooded. Already for the most part economically inferior to resident students, commuters began to feel mistreated and inferior in many other respects.

Why Lowell for Some?

In writing about Dudley's physical condition in his farewell report, Duhig noted that "An individual tends to respect himself about as much as he feels that the society in which he finds himself respects him. The commuting student does not know and cannot be told why Harvard provides Lowell House for some students and Dudley Hall for others. He tends to scale his own worth to the community in proportion to the equipment placed at his disposal."

There are approximately 650 commuters at Harvard--no one in the University knows exactly how many--and 450 of them pay the $10 a year which makes them members of Dudley. There are approximately 150 active and regular members of Dudley. Last week the CRIMSON polled the Center and received 147 serious replies.

Answers on these questions showed a well of bitter sentiment on the part of commuters. One senior wrote, "When people ask you what House you live in and you say you commute, their noses go up and their eyes cast 'that peasant' glances."

Bitterness

Many other replies were of this sort: "Yes, we're treated as second-class, but we think most of those who live in are jerks, too, so we don't mind." This bitterness sometimes results in self-accusation: "Commuters are treated that way only when they so act, as many of them unfortunately do."

The replies quoted are extreme, but there is no denying that such sentiments are fairly common. A very unhealthy feeling exists, and only through the efforts of the administration, faculty members, and resident students can it be alleviated. The idea that the commuter is not a real Harvard man has enough truth in it to make it worthy of re-assessment.

Almost all non-residents commute because of financial reasons, and most of them (80 percent) would not commute if they didn't have to. Their college careers are closely limited by tight train schedules, and the necessity for being home in time for meals. Many of them have afternoon jobs, many more scholarships and must keep up high grades. All these limit their College contacts--consequently most of them don't dress like Harvard men, talk like Harvard men, or act like Harvard men. Whether this is good or bad is not pertinent; it does definitely set the commuter out as a class apart.

The commuter today is plagued by problems on all sides. Eighty percent of commuters polled said that they believed that Lamont should let commuters take reserved books out at 5 or 6 p.m. Phillip J. McNiff, Lamont Librarian, steadfastly refuses to make any changes in the present system, pointing out that if commuters were allowed to take books out early it would only hurt the even larger group of resident students.