Sever Pipes Drowning Out Lectures

The banging and clanging got louder and louder, but Paul A. Cantor '66, assistant professor of English Literature, refused to be drowned out by the din. "I will not be stopped," he cried, continuing to lecture despite the noisy hubbub, like Demosthenes shouting against the waves.

Cantor did manage to win that battle against the radiator pipes of Sever Hall, where he teaches Humanities 118, "Myths of Creation." Other instructors have not been as lucky.

Both Cantor and Frank B. Freidel, Warren Professor of American History, said yesterday mysterious noises from pipes at both sides of the room often interrupt their classes in Sever II.

Freidel said yesterday that it was true he has opened a history course taught in Sever 11 by stating, "Our subject will be the great depression--but teaching in this room is the real depression."

Students who have classes in Sever 11 said that sudden outbursts of noise from the radiators made it difficult for them to hear lectures sometimes, or even to sleep through a class.

Faculty Plot?

"I think Professor Lintner [John V. Lintner, Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration] has someone banging on the pipes just to keep me awake," a student in Economics 1510, which is taught by Litner, said.

The student declined to give his name.

"It sounds like someone is working on the pipes when you first hear the noises," Joseph F. Savage '78, another student in Ec 1510, said last night. "But then it doesn't stop," he added.

A University engineer at the Chilled Water Plant, who declined to give his name, said yesterday nothing could be done about the noise in the immediate future.

The engineer said the noises come from "squeaking" when the steel radiator in Sever 11 expands and contracts in response to temperature changes.

The heater noises affect musical groups which practice in the room as well as classes. Thomas W. Bridge '79, manager of the Harvard Collegium, a mixed chorus, said yesterday the noises sometimes disrupt singing practice when they "go clank-clank-clank off key."

"It distracts us occasionally, but then so do certain individuals," Bridge said.

James W. Harrington '77, manager of the Harvard Glee Club, which also practices in Sever 11, said sometimes "you get a pianissimo sound, and the pipes come in on the wrong interval."