Several Kirkland students--all of whom told the House they would enjoy faculty interaction--say they have never met a member of the SCR other than the masters and the tutors who live in the House.

"It's a terrible waste of what could be a wonderful resource," says one Kirkland House sophomore who asked not to be identified. "I bet some Senior Common Room people are pretty interesting, but I wouldn't know.

"And even in Houses such as Lowell, where SCR members do play a more active role in House life, packed student schedules often limit the amount of interaction that can occur.

The Challenges of Modern Times

Although SCRs were never perfect, they used to work better.

When Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877, created SCRs in the 1920s, most professors lived in Cambridge and had wives who stayed home and took care of the kids.

But Cambridge's rising cost of living and relatively poor school system have forced more and more faculty members to gravitate to outlying areas, such as Arlington and Newton.

"In the 1950's, a high percentage of faculty lived within the map on the back of the phone book," Lewis says. "It's very hard to get faculty to stay or come back in the evenings for SCR dinners and the like.

"What's more, though students are too shy to approach faculty members they don't know, many SCR members often feel the same way, says Thomas A. Dingman '67, associate dean of the College for human resources and the House system.

"It's a little intimidating to go down to a House dining hall and see 300 students," he says. "They think They want me to join their conversation?'"

Do We Need This Relationship?

Although calls to reform SCRs have not fallen on deaf ears in the council of masters and in the administration, many differ on the best method to do it.

Quincy House Master Michael Shinagel says that a strong connection between faculty and students will keep the Houses from becoming mere high rise dorms.

Still, some masters say that little can be done to fix the problem House-by-House.

"Some of it is kind of beyond the scope of what individual Houses or undergraduates can do," says Kirkland House Master Donald H. Pfister. "It's something that the dean might think about.

"Lewis, on the other hand, says he believes it is up to the masters to improve the SCRs.