Eleventh Hour Decision

There was a time when a Dartmouth game played at Hanover instead of Cambridge would have left a gaping hole in the local social calendar. In those days the only big football weekends were home football weekends, and the Masters on occasion would graciously keep the House gates open to students and their dates until 11 or 12 p.m. on the night of a Yale or Princeton game in Cambridge. But in recent years this happy philosophy has gone the way of wooden goalposts. The Masters reversed their field in 1953 and decreed that late room permission would apply on all weekends except those of home football games. Consequently the play-away is now the thing. Undergraduates in Cambridge will celebrate this evening because, for the second of only three Saturdays this fall, they may entertain women in their rooms until 11 p.m.

For the remaining home football weekends--and whenever there is a House Dance--however, thousands of upperclassmen and their dates will still be forced out of rooms in the Houses at 8 p.m. Wealthy students--and the College still has some--can then take their girls to Boston and spend $10 to $20 for an evening's entertainment. Undergraduates who, after buying their date's football ticket, still have $3.60 to spend can push their way into a House Dance. But students who dislike gaudiness, crowds, or exorbitant prices would still prefer to remain in their rooms, where they can entertain inexpensively and maturely.

The Masters, though they recognize the student's financial problem, argue that an extra three hours of drinking on a home football Saturday are a dangerous thing. They envision excessively wild parties, couples staggering out onto the streets recklessly drunk, and crack-ups on the road back to Wellesley. Yet in extending room hours to 11 p.m. for ordinary weekends three years ago, the Masters undertook a similar risk, and the results have been encouraging. In sharp contrast to the dire predictions of the Faculty, few students have abused their new privilege. Undergraduates have shown that they are capable of responsible social behavior on ordinary Saturdays. They deserve the Faculty's confidence on football weekends too.

But the Masters, who often spend their football weekends closed off from the student portion of the House, may still have some doubts about the residents' fledgling attempts at adult entertainment. To allay these fears, House members might invite their Master and his wife to attend their room parties on the football weekends ahead. After observing students with their charming dates at close range, the Masters must surely mellow and decide at their next meeting to advance the entertainment deadline on football Saturdays--on a trial basis at least--to 11 p.m.