Chalmers Supports Plan For Midnight Parietals

Winthrop House Master Bruce Chalmers said last night that he supports a Harvard Undergraduate Council proposal to extend parietals to midnight on weekdays.

Chalmers said in a meeting of Winthrop House residents that he intends to work within the Committee on Houses--which recommends parietal rules changes to the Faculty for such a change. Last week, Dean Ford said that he and other members of the Committee on Houses were "sick" of the parietal issue.

No 'Rule Breaking'

However, Chalmers added that he does not intend to let students in his own House break the rules. If students decided to violate parietals en masse as a protest, Chalmers said, he will be "obligated" to refer their names to the undergraduate disciplinary body, the Administrative Board.

He predicted that parietal violators would receive, at the least, probation.

Resident tutor in Houses, however, are not obligated to enforce parietal regulations, Chalmers noted.

Chalmers, who was instrumental in extending parietals last year to midnight on Fridays, said that he fels that parietals are a matter of "educational policy." Therefore, he explained, the parietal issue should be decided by the Masters and Faculty.

Restrictions Not 'Beneficial'

But he said that he disagreed with Masters who feel that the present restrictions are "educationally beneficial."

"I cannot subscribe to the view that when girls walk into a room, intelligent conversation ceases," Chalmers declared.

Parietal restrictions will not be eliminated "in the near future" Chalmers said, because of the "College's image."

But the rules will be relaxed within a few years, and total elimination of the restrictions may come in the next decade, he predicted.