'Cliffies Vote to Change Sophomore Sign-Out Rule

By a vote of 551 to 425, 'Cliffies have passed the referendum to extend junior and senior rules to sophomores. The change, which removes restrictions on the time at which a sophomore must return to the dorm, went into effect yesterday.

Mrs. Bunting said that night she expects neither the Administration nor the College Council, both of which have power to revoke social legislation, to take such action. "I would certainly hope that if either group had had strong objections they would have made them beforehand and would not act afterwords unless the change runs into trouble."

In the voting, which was conducted on a dormitory basis, only Bertram, Comstock, Edmands, Henry, Jordan J and W. and the commuters and Administration (polled together) opposed the change. Some students who opposed the referendum indicated on their ballots that they favored extending sophomore hours from 1 a.m. to 2 or 3 a.m. instead.

Large Voter Turnout

RGA made special efforts to assure a large voter turnout ballots were distributed and collected individually with in each dormitory. As a result, 978 of the 1147 eligible students, both resident and commuter, and (approximately) 115 Administration members voted. In addition to the 976 who voted, a small number abstained.

Under the new rules, sophomores will still be required to obtain permission from their senior residents to sign out after 1 a.m. until Thanksgiving. After that, permission will no longer be necessary. The referendum failed to specify whether students with sophomore standing are included as well, however. Until RGA meets to clarify this point, only academic sophomore will be eligible to use the new rule.

The vote break-down was: dormitories for-Barnard (51-12), Briggs (52-38), Cabot (46-41), Coggeshall (12-3), Eliot (23-19), Everett (17-1), Gilman (15-7), Holmes (29-37), Jordan K (15-5), Moors (67-20), Saville (11-1), Slater (4-1), Warner (11-7), Whitman (56-13), and Wolbach (42-26).

The dormitories opposing the referendum were: Bertram (19-24), Comstock (42-47), Edmands (0-10), Henry (3-6), Jordan J (4-15), Jordan W (9-11), and the Administration and commuters together (12-61).