Graduate Dorms Increase Rent To Carry Out Soundproofing Plan

Rents will rise ten per cent in the Graduate Center Dormitories next fall because of a soundproofing project and general increased maintenance costs, Wesley E. Bevins, Jr., Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Law, announced yesterday.

The Center's designer, Walter Gropius, professor of Architecture, emeritus, said that he did not see how the proposed painting of the walls would substantially reduce the noise unless some new type of paint has been produced that he does not know of.

Tests will be conducted over the spring vacation to determine the decible reduction effected by applying heavy coats of paint to the walls and by providing thresholds and gaskets for the doors. Gropius, however, had recommended the application of a specially designed porous plaster to the walls.

He added that he knew the sound-proofing was faulty when the buildings were designed. "I wrote the authorities for the right to plaster the walls, but the project was on a tight budget and I could not get permission."

The conditions in the dorms have deteriorated since the building was finished as the cinderblock walls have settled, causing wide cracks between the walls and ceilings in some rooms.

The increase in the rents probably will not cause any students to leave the Graduate Center Dormitories, Cliffe D. Joel 3G, Secretary to the Graduate Student Council, said yesterday. "It always may affect a few borderline cases, but I have not heard of any people who would be seriously hurt by the rise," he added.