Harvard contributes to the health and vitality of Cambridge, but is also part of the city's problems, said Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55 in a talk with Cabot House students last night.

The Mayor dined with students in Cabot and then addressed a group of 12 students in the Cabot living room on the subject: "Post-Reagan Cambridge."

Duehay said Harvard and MIT have played a central role in transforming Cambridge's struggling industrial base to a booming technology-oriented economy by providing the intellectual and cultural climate that has attracted businesses and residents.

But, at the same time, university expansion and the influx of new residents "has led to all kinds of relocations," Duehay said. Since Cambridge is only six square miles in size, land is "extremely precious," he said.

Duehay also said an important challenge of Cambridge government in coming years will be grappling with declining federal government support for urban programs.

Relating the federal budget deficit to urban fiscal problems, Duehay said, "problems affecting the health of American cities have started in Washington."

Because the President and Congress will not touch the Defense budget or Social Security, Duehay said, they will have to try to balance the budget by cutting "programs that affect cities," like housing, health and transportation.

"Reagan was elected by rural and suburban interests who have no interest in the problems of cities," Duehay said.