University Will Not Alter Parietal Hours This Year

The University will take no action this year either to extend or curtail parietals, Dean Monro has told the HCUA.

In a letter dated Feb. 10, Monro explained that the Committee on Houses, made up of the Masters of all the Houses and Deans Monro, Watson, and Ford, had considered the HCUA report on parietals and decided to recommend no changes in the present hours.

The six-page HCUA report favored extension of the present hours from 2 to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, from 2 p.m. to midnight on Friday, from noon to 1 a.m. on Saturday, and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday. The recommendations were submitted to the Masters early in January.

R. Thomas Seymour '64, chairman of the HCUA, said he was not surprised at the committee's action. He predicted, however, that an extension of parietals on Fridays nights before football games and on the Saturday nights after them was a "real possibility" next year.

Seymour attributed the committee's decision not to extend hours this year to the "erroneous publicity" given to the parietal issue this fall. "Before the controversy broke, my guess was that this one concession was all the Masters were willing to recommend to the faculty," he said. The so-called sex scandal killed all hope of even these extensions, he said.

Although definitely ruling out any changes for this year, Monro said in his letter that he would be willing to discuss the report's details with HCUA members.

Extensions for Freshmen

Despite the committee's action, the HCUA will probably make a recommendation for liberalized parietal hours for freshmen in the near future.

The results of the study taken last fall among the Yardlings will be distributed this week to council members and voted on at next week's meeting. The report currently recommends "limited liberalization" of the hours, according to Seymour.