Lowell House and Yard Will Lose Maids in Fall

Lowell House and all freshman dormitories will lose their maid service next fall, Edward R. Reynolds '15, Administrative Vice President, announced yesterday.

Once a week, porters using mechanical cleaning equipment will clean rooms without maid service. College authorities plan an inspection system in rooms cleaned only once a week, Arthur D. Trottenberg, Operating Manager of Houses and College Dormitories, disclosed.

The final form such an inspection system would take has not yet been decided, Trottenberg said.

"There will have to be some sort of inspection system, or those rooms would be a mess. But this part of the new program is still in the planning stage," he added.

For at least the 1954 fall term, the other Houses will continue to have daily cleaning by maids. The University has stated, however, that bed making will be discontinued in all College rooms next fall.

Student Porters Possible

The University hopes to switch one or more additional Houses from maid to porter service at the start of the spring term next year, Trottenberg said. Current plans call for a complete switchover by the end of 1955.

Vanderbilt Hall, at the Medical School, is also likely to lose full maid service, but other graduate dormitories will retain their maids. The University earlier this year announced that maid service will continue for tutors and proctors, but will probably be discontinued at the junior fellow level.

Whether the porter service will employ students or outsiders is still uncertain. "It depends upon how many students want to be porters," Trottenberg explained.

Janitors Not Affected

"If students do not fill these jobs, we will have to get employees from the outside."

The University has promised, however, that there will be no expansion of present student help into the jurisdiction of employees now on its payroll. This promise may obligate the University to employ only outside porters.

The changes will not affect the janitorial staff of the College, nor will any maids be released. Trottenberg said the reduction of the maid staff will be accomplished only by attrition, as maids leave of their own will.

The last time officials experimented in the Houses, Dunster had the student porters.

When the plan to cut maid service was first announced in January, Reynolds said that by the new cleaning arrangement the University will save approximately $150,000 a year.

At the same time, be also said room rates will be raised next year by five or six percent. Without the maid cut, he said room rates would have to be raised almost 18 percent.