Four decades after Woodrow Wilson tried unsuccessfully to abolish the club system, Princeton may be moving toward a new residential plan which will incorporate the major features of Yale's Colleges and Harvard's Houses in its own cloistered tradition.

A joint statement issued last week by two trustee-administration committees announced plans to investigate the possibilities of constructing new residence halls which combine living, dining and recreational facilities. The report was presented by William D'O. Lippincott, Princeton's Dean of Students, before a regular meeting of the college's Undergraduate Council.

The report--prepared "in an effort to arrive at a dormitory plan which will be fully adaptable to the present and future needs of Princeton," according to university President Harold S. Dodds--calls for surveys to determine the possible location of the new facilities and the desirability of providing for libraries, lounges, and faculty residences in future residential halls.

The issuing of the joint committee findings follows years of deep questioning of the whole "bicker" system--through which sophomores are hastily picked for membership in the 17 plush undergraduate eating clubs that line Prospect Street. The alumni-controlled club system, with its strong hold on undergraduate life, maintained by a monopoly over upperclass social and dining facilities, has been criticized as an island of outside interference within the University.

No definite announcement or target date was enumerated in the committees' report, but a recommendation was made that Princeton consult with its undergraduates and with officials at other colleges about the possibilities of altering its living arrangements.