Students Lose Maid Service In Houses, Dorms After '56

University officials and members of the Harvard University Employees Representative Association will meet today to iron out final details on a plan aimed at eliminating maid service in undergraduate Houses and dormitories by 1956, it was learned last night.

Maid service, however, will be continued on a partial basis next year and through the spring of '56. Although the exact details of future service will not be known until after today's negotiations, it is expected that the present five-day service will continue without change during the spring term.

"As few maids as possible will be laid off this year," a top HUERA official said last night. "It's hoped that the usual turnover of maids at the end of the year will take care of the bulk of the cut-down," he emphasized. No new maids will be hired next fall and any dismissal will come from those maids newly hired this term, he said.

Student Porters

The student porter system will be continued on the present partial basis, with no plans for an increase in the porter system presently under consideration.

It is expected that the graduate school maid service will also continue in its present from next year, although it is as yet uncertain whether any long-range cut down plan will eventually apply to graduate service.

One plan under consideration at one point during the preliminary discussions was a system whereby room rents would be decreased slightly, and students would be allowed to choose for themselves whether or not to have maid service for an additional fee. It is believed that this plan has been thrown out as unfeasible.

Representatives of the Union emphasized that they were attempting to carryout the shift with as little hardship and friction as possible.

Another Union official last night revealed that the University, in the course of the negotiations, has tentatively agreed to several large new benefits. One most prominently mentioned was the elimination of a three day waiting period before sick pay begins, a fringe benefit HUERA has been fighting for for several years.

University officials declined to comment on the negotiations last night. It is believed, however, that a policy statement and the details of the actual working basis of the new maid service will be released either today or tomorrow, depending upon today's negotiations.