Members of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life (CHUL), confident early this Fall that they had met for the last time, gathered yesterday afternoon for their first meeting in nearly two months.

CHUL was scheduled to be phased out by the proposed Undergraduate Council, but when plans for the council were put off until next fall, CHUL officials decided to reinstate the committee. Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, said recently.

Several student CHUL members said yesterday it "seemed strange" to be meeting after the group had been dormant nearly all semester, and Epps said it was "hard to predict" what effect the layoff would have on student interest in the group.

Epps announced at the meeting that elections would be held in January for new CHUL members.

At the meeting, CHUL members heard reports from Dean Rosovsky on student finances and from S. Allen Counter, professor of Biology, on the newly-formed foundation to improve race relations, which Counter directs.

Rosovsky told the members that Harvard stands to lose about $1 million per year in scholarship student aid under the Reagan administration cutbacks, and added that these cuts would hit middle income students hardest.

He said that the University is attempting to offset the cutbacks by cutting energy costs, and by eliciting increased donations from the private sector.

"The private sector is not now donating nearly what the present tax incentives make way for," Rosovsky said, adding that he predicts donations from private institutions will rise sharply in the next few years.

But he said that even with the expected increase in donations, "I don't see any way the private sector can match what the government has been paying for."

In his statement on the foundation, Counter said the group is taking a "behind the scenes" approach to improving campus race relations.

Counter said many minority students have informed him about areas of the University in which they feel racial problems exist.

Some minority students say that certain professors have discriminated against or been insensitive to them. Counter said, adding that he has discussed the issue privately with several professors.

Other minority students feel uncomfortable in certain Houses, and feel the Crimson and other campus media are sometimes insensitive to them, he added.

Counter also said many minority athletes say they are discriminated against or made to feel uncomfortable on Harvard athletic teams. He added that he has met with John P. Reardon Jr. '60, director of Athletics, to discuss the matter