  Three generation heterotic-string vacua in the free fermionic formulation
gave rise to models with solely the MSSM states in the observable Standard
Model charged sector. The relation of these models to Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold
compactifications dictates that they produce three pairs of untwisted Higgs
multiplets. The reduction to one pair relies on the analysis of supersymmetric
flat directions, that give superheavy mass to the dispensable Higgs states. We
explore the removal of the extra Higgs representations by using the free
fermion boundary conditions and hence directly at the string level, rather than
in the effective low energy field theory. We present a general mechanism that
achieves this reduction by using asymmetric boundary conditions between the
left- and right-moving internal fermions. We incorporate this mechanism in
explicit string models containing three twisted generations and a single
untwisted Higgs doublet pair. We further demonstrate that an additional effect
of the asymmetric boundary conditions is to substantially reduce the
supersymmetric moduli space.
