Masters Disagree On Parietal Rules For Key Weekend

The Housemasters' uniform policy on parietal rules fell to pieces yesterday so far as Friday of the All-College Weekend is concerned.

Eliot and Dunster announced that they would extend visiting hours for women guests on April 23 from the customary 8 p.m. to 11; Winthrop said it would set its parietal deadline that evening at 9; and Kirkland, Leverett, and Lowell decided to keep the 8 o'clock weeknight rule.

Officials of Adams House were not available for comment, but presumably they too will end permissions at 8.

Mason Hammond '25, Master of Kirkland, said he will not extend the deadline past 8 p.m. because "I am very much opposed to competition among the Houses as to who has the most liberal parietal rules, so I shall keep the most conservative rule."

Cause of the discrepancy in parietal rules lies in the varying social functions planned by the Houses for next Friday. A Housemasters' ruling of last year says women must be out of student rooms in any House when an organized House dance begins, but the word "organized" has lately received conflicting interpretations.

Eliot and Dunster, for example, are basing their parietal extension on the premise that a dance without an orchestra is not "organized." The typical understanding of the word 'dance' implies a big affair," Joseph C. Oakley '54, Dunster dance chairman, explained yesterday.

Oakley's committee next Friday will present a "record hop with refreshments," not an organized dance. a similar affair will be held in Eliot.

Lowell House, meanwhile, will stage its annual opera production on the All College Friday. Although there will be no planned dancing of any kind, Master Elliott Perkins '23 says parietal permissions will end at the customary 8.

Adams, Kirkland, Leverett, and Winthrop are all planning some kind of House dance and intend to continue terminating room permissions when the dance starts. Winthrop's parietal rules will last until 9 because its dance will begin an hour later than usual