Taylor States College Needs Student Center Houses Lack 'Room' for Meetings

The College needs a student union--like those on many mid-Western campuses--to provide space for Harvard-Radcliffe student groups, Charles H. Taylor, Master of Kirkland House, said last night. "We cannot allow these organizations to use the Houses for their meetings because we don't have sufficient room," he explained.

"The question of having Radcliffe girls in an organization has nothing at all to do with whether we can let them use House facilities for club meetings," Taylor added. "The problem is one of space limitations. We would like to build more meeting rooms in the House, but space is running out."

Taylor noted that "all the Houses are under constant pressure from student groups who want a place to meet." But our only large meeting place, for instance, is the junior common room, and we like to keep that area free for members of the House."

Dunster Room Unavailable

Gordon M. Fair, Master of Dunster House, denied use of the Dunster junior common room to outside groups "because it's being actively used every night" by members of the House. "The only other meeting rooms we have here are in full demand already," he added.

"No House wants its junior common room turned into a public convenience beyond a certain point," Elliott Perkins '23, Master of Lowell House, stated. He pointed out that Lowell had no other suitable room. "We want to be reasonably hospitable," he added, "but we don't want to be taken over."

"When the new Houses are built, we will have some free space and may consider knocking out a few walls to build some large meeting rooms," Perkins continued. "If this happens, the question of who will use these facilities will come up then."

Quincy to Have Adequate Space

One House, however, will have adequate meeting rooms. Quincy House may make its two large seminar rooms available to some Harvard-Radcliffe organizations for certain functions, according to John M. Bullitt '43, Master of Quincy House. "Although these rooms were designed for use by sections, tutorials, and House groups, we may allow some outside groups to use them," he explained.

"We are not opposed to the occasional use of the Eliot common room by Harvard-Radcliffe groups," John H. Finley, Jr. '25, Master of Eliot House, commented. However, he pointed out that, as a rule, he disapproves of such a practice.