The Ruined Maid

The Harvard community must wonder sometimes if the Radcliffe Government Association has nothing to do except refine the college's already complex sign-out rules. One imagines a bunch of articulate, brainy females sitting around the Cabot Hall living room, asking each other earnestly about late permissions, arguing fervently that sophomores are as "responsible" as juniors and seniors.

Even President Bunting became impatient with RGA's nit-picking at a meeting last Fall and stunned the representatives by asking them to consider abolishing social rules. RGA responded in a predictable fashion; it appointed a committee, which plodded along for five months before making any recommendations.

The committee submitted its proposals to RGA last week, asking for revisions of present rules but avoiding the issue. Mrs. Bunting asked them to consider: do Cliffies need sign-out rules? Most of their recommendations were trivial, and a few were more restrictive than the present rules. The committee suggested that freshmen be permitted to sign out without permission until 1 a.m., sophomores before Thanksgiving until 3 a.m., and upperclassmen until any hour, provided that they did not sign out after 3 a.m. for more than three nights in a row.

The nuances and specious distinctions set forth both by the committee and RGA are brain-numbering. No one has been able to find any reason for retaining sign-outs, except that the alumnx may be ruffled and the Record-American titillated if Radcliffe doesn't. Questions of safety are no longer applicable; having your destination listed on a sign-out card is no protection against muggers, rapists, or perverts in the Common or on Garden St. Nor do sign-out rules preserve chastity or prevent undergraduate affairs, although a few girls argue that having a curfew helps them "make decisions."

It is clear that RGA ought to reconsider Mrs. Bunting's original request and ask themselves whether young women actually need to account for their comings and goings. There is popular support for abolishing all sign-outs and at least some evidence that the College Council would not quash such iconoclasm.

At the RGA Thursday, the representatives hinted that they may only further refine the committee's refinements and then end this season's bout with sign-outs. RGA's only significant opposition is to the committee's proposal that all students after Thanksgiving of their sophomore year ask permission of their head resident to sign out after 3 a.m. for more than three consecutive nights.