Deficit May Force Harkness Commons To Make Changes

The Law School's main eating facility will lose about $200,000 this year, and the school is considering various plans to insure that the loss is not repeated next year, William L. Bruce '46, vice dean of the Law School, said yesterday.

The school had budgeted a $93,000 loss for the cafeteria, Harkness Commons, about $71,000 of which went into "keeping the building open," Bruce said. Increased costs of food, personnel and utilities due to inflation doubled the expected loss, he said.

Bruce said the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will pay one-quarter of the loss and the Law School will-make up the remainder out of its general revenue.

Thomas L. Burroughs, a first-year law student and president of the Dormitory Council, said yesterday that the council will work with Bruce to find alternatives to the cafeteria's present management system.

"We're waiting for financial statements to find where the major losses come from before we seriously consider alternatives," he said.

One of the plans which may be considered, called the Yale plan, would make the purchase of $100-200 worth of meal tickets for the Commons compulsory for law students, but Burroughs said students were unhappy with this suggestion.

Other alternatives to be considered may include shortening the hours of cafeteria service-now 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.--or closing the facility on weekends.