G W O Discusses Day-Care Center

Speakers at an open meeting of the Graduate Women's Organization (GWO) discussed last night converting the Memorial Church basement rooms into a day-care center for children of Harvard faculty, students, and workers.

The center, which will open either this Spring or next September, would be the first Harvard-based day-care facility. "I want to bring day-care to Harvard." Elisabeth W, Mahnke '63 of GWO said last night. "I'm for merger and I'm for day-care, and one of the arguments against merger has been that only Radcliffe has day-care centers."

"But we won't be able to open our doors until we receive the approval from the appropriate faculty committee," she continued. "We will also have to go to University Hall and Buildings and Grounds and heaven knows where else before we can even set up swings."

The GWO called the meeting to discuss specific day-care problems. Participants could not decide whether to establish a parent cooperative or a pro-fessionally-staffed center with a parent governing board.

The center would start with 20 children. Because there are no outside subsidies, the GWO speculated that there would be a $30-40 weekly charge per child. To offset fears that high charges would discourage workers, the people present at the meeting considered establishing a definite worker: student-faculty ratio. "I don't want an elitist day-care center for my child," one woman commented.

At the meeting, Rev. Charles P. Price '41, minister of Memorial Church, organized a working group of five women and one man to develop a specific program and tentative budget. The GWO will sponsor another open meeting February 18 and reach a final decision based on the committee's recommendations.

The meeting, attended by 20 people, ended hopefully. "I see endless potential," Mahnke said. "By the time this center is working and we have 100 children, we'll be pushing the President out of his house for more room."