Open Meetings Set

After a term of debate over whether to bar members of the public and press form observing its meetings, the student-faculty Committee on Housing decided yesterday to open all future sessions.

The 10-members advisory group agreed, however, to retain the option of closing any of its future sessions by majority vote, under what members termed yesterday as "special circumstances."

Composed of five Undergraduate Council delegates and five House co-masters, the committee had unexpectedly decided at its inaugural session last November to bar all outside observers.

Yesterday's decision was reached in closed session, following two open meetings over the past month to test member's arguments that inviting observers would lead to unwidely and counterproductive discussion.

"The consensus of the committee was that having open meetings was not as stifling as some had previously believed," delegate Gregory S. Lyss '85 said at a briefing following yesterday's meeting.

But committee member Phyllis Bott, co-master of Dunster House, said that "feelings were slightly mixed," and that open meetings might inhibit the committee's proceedings.

Another student-faculty group formed this year, the Committee on College Life, continues to meet in close sessions after deciding not to hold trial open sessions as the Housing Committee did last month. College Life members agreed to hold one open session sometime this spring, though several council delegates recently said that they would soon push to have the group reconsider its closed meeting position.

In other business during the hour meeting-devoted largely to the open/closed issue-the committee continued its review of a recently released report on non-resident students. The group also deferred discussion of summer storage policy.