AT THE HEIGHT of the most severe apartment shortage in recent times in Cambridge, Harvard has altered the market status of hundreds of cheap, rent-controlled apartments, making access to these apartments more difficult for Cambridge residents. This action contradicts a long-standing Harvard policy of allowing non-affiliated Cambridge residents equal access to apartments that Harvard removes from the market by purchasing.

Acording to the executive director of the Cambridge Rent Control Board, only a finite number of cheap, rent-controlled apartments exists. When Harvard purchases these rent-controlled apartments--as it has been doing for years--and then rents them only to Harvard affiliates, many Cambridge citizens are denied inexpensive housing. Because Harvard owns about 100 Cambridge buildings containing open-housing apartments, the impact of the apparent change will be considerable if it continues.

The exclusion of Cambridge citizens from Harvard's supposed "open housing" may be the result of a bureaucratic bungle. When the University decided this summer to market the apartments through the Harvard Housing Office--which is open exclusively to Harvard affiliates for a certain time-period--maybe someone failed to realize this action would make the apartments inaccessible to Cambridge residents who are not connected with the University. If so, we urge corrective action be taken. No one will deny that Harvard has added dynamism to Cambridge, but in the process of building an academic community, the University must ensure that our fellow Cantabrigians aren't stepped on.