This article is the first in a two-part series on Dudley House and non-residential life. The Second part will appear on Monday.

When most people think of student life at Harvard, dormitories come to mind. More than 95 percent of all undergraduates live in the Yard and Union halls and the 12 residential houses.

Nonetheless, Harvard life has another side to it. More than 250 undergraduates live off-campus and most them are affiliated with Dudley, Harvard's 13th and most often overlooked house. Although most Harvard students rarely think about Dudley, house affiliates say it boasts the greatest student diversity and richest college life on campus.

"It's got a huge variety," says Matthew J. Finch '89, Dudley house committee co-chairman. "It's as individualistic as the Adams House stereotype."

Serving as an academic and social center for the undergraduates and approximately 150 graduate students, Dudley contains the University's highest centration of non-traditional students. Of all the houses, Dudley's population includes the greatest proportions of foreign, married and older students who have taken time off.

House affiliates also include students who have chosen to leave the residential houses and transfer students who are not guaranteed on-campus housing.

As Dudley Senior Tutor John R. Marquand says, Dudley affiliates are "a cosmopolitan group," more inclined to "know what they want out of Harvard."

But times are troubled for Dudley, the house that is not a house. The on-campus center for nonresident students is the focus of complaints from both transfer students and frustrated administrators. The house administration must contend with rumors that Dudley faces closure, and at the same time attempt to place Dudley on an equal footing with the residential houses.

The house leadership is also in flux. Dudley House Co-Masters Arthur C. Loeb and Lotje Loeb recently announced that they will step down this summer, citing professional commitments and disagreements with the College administration.

On the surface, Dudley appears similar to the other houses. The house administration--based in Lehman Hall--includes co-masters, a senior tutor and surprisingly, a full complement of resident and non-resident tutors. Like the residential houses, Dudley also maintains a house committee, senior and junior common rooms, a dining hall, darkrooms, art studios and a house library.

"Dudley is not isolated," says Lee D. Cranmer II '88, "It's a house, definitely. Some people have very strong feelings about it."

By nature, however, "Dudley House simply is different," says Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57.

According to College policy, Dudley House's purpose is to serve the needs of non-residential students, and this involves providing for a group of students whose characteristics and wants have shifted dramatically over the years. Currently the house serves a large number of transfer students, who are required to affiliate with Dudley. Many of these students say they would rather live on campus, and if they are given the opportunity, large numbers of them students move into the residential houses.

"You have no choice as a transfer, you're just thrown in with a group of people," says Elizabeth G. Malloy '89, a transfer who recently left Dudley to affiliate with Adams House. "It's sort of a mish-mash of people. It's not really a way to meet people," Malloy says.

But 10 years ago, Dudley students consisted predominantly of independent-minded students dissatisfied with traditional house life who want to sample the alternative lifestyle made possible by affiliating with Dudley.