Await Durant's Verdict on Closing Hours of Eliot-Kirkland Driveway

Whether or not he has granted the petition given to him Wednesday that the driveway in front of Eliot and Kirkland Houses be left open until 11 o'clock will be announced today by Aldrich Durant, Business Manager.

The petition was signed by 258 men in the two houses, more than half the total number of students in them, it was pointed out by Nelson Miles '40, who gave the petition to Durant. That the change was felt desirable by many residents who were not directly affected was shown by the fact that approximately 180 of the signers did not have cars. It was estimated that all but a dozen car owners in the two houses signed.

It was claimed in backing the change that the chain, which is supposed to be closed at 8 o'clock, has generally been left open up to nearly 9 o'clock, thus leading many to get caught when it is shut on time. It was also explained that the days when automobile motors made an undue disturbance have passed and that therefore there are no valid objections left to the change.

Night watchmen defend the rule merely because it is "orders," as one expressed it, and they will often "make exceptions" in favor of students who are caught, thus making themselves the victims of the 8 o'clock rule, although one insists that "It was an Eliot House man called me a dirty name once and I swore I'd never let anybody out again."

Eliot House now has no adjacent parking lot after eight o'clock.