150 Sign Petition To Postpone Hour Of Chain Locking

More than 150 residents of Eliot and Kirkland Houses have signed a petition which appeared Wednesday outside the House Dining Halls demanding extension of the time for locking the entrance chain from 8 o'clock until 11 o'clock. Kirkland House had a total of 38 signers.

The chain outside the entrance locks in cars for the night unless removed by 8 o'clock. "We have to rush right out after dinner," four staunch backers of the drive chorused about the lock.

Asked to comment upon the plan, Aldrich Durant, Business Manager of the University, to whose office the petition will eventually go, told the CRIMSON last night that the chain had been locked at the early hour at the request of residents and "to maintain peace and order." He pointed out the matter of the noise of automobiles and said that the Housemasters will have something to say in the matter.

At present car owners who get "locked in" have to plead with the caretaker to get "let out." A short time ago one resident drove out as the caretaker raised the chain and shouted out the window terms deprecating the general practice of chains and referred to the caretaker in uncomplimentary terms. He disappeared in a cloud of exhaust, but since then it has become increasingly difficult to get the necessary permission, residents said.

The chain has been in operation for several years, but until this year residents were able to worm out along the squash court sidewalk. This year another post has rendered this impractical for anything except Austins, bicycles, and scooters.