Cliffies Complain "It's 35 Degrees" In Off-Campus House, Blame B & G

The girls at 103 Walker Street are handling their books with gloves this reading period, because their rooms are so cold that it's the only way they can study.

Cliffies in the off-campus house said yesterday that the heating system there is inadequate. Maximum temperature in one room so far this winter was 63 degrees, one junior said. But Carlin Meyer '69 added, "It's more like 35 degrees" most of the time.

Residents of 103 Walker said they have been complaining to the Department of Buildings and Grounds for two years, but the office has made no substantial improvement. One sophomore in the house said the B. and G. office promised them electric heaters before Christmas vacation, but did not keep the promise.

"We've been letting our hair dryers run to keep the rooms warm," one girl shivered, "and we finally resorted to putting ads in the CRIMSON." The series of advertisements, which began appearing in the CRIMSON'S classified section last Monday, complained, "Cold, cold, cold," and pleaded, "Please Mrs. B. We need heat in 103."

Ralph Gates, Radcliffe director of buildings and grounds, said his staff has made some improvements. "We have weatherstripped some windows, added fans to the heating ducts, and increased the size of the oil burner," he said.

The house was privately owned before Radcliffe bought it and converted it to a dormitory in 1964-65, and Gates said the former owners of the house had created the heating problem when they added several rooms to the upper floors of the three-story building.

"They didn't hook new heating pipes onto the furnace to heat the additional rooms," Gates said. "They just divided the heat above the first floor, so that air which had previously warmed only one room is now divided between two."

Gates said he has plans for future improvements but would not elaborate on them. He acknowledged the possibility of installing a new heating system but said that it could not be done in the middle of winter. "Money would have to be appropriated by the proper authorities, and we couldn't put the new system in until summer," he said.