Administrative Board Bars Parietals Extension Petition

A student petition for extended parietal hours to entertain women in the Houses yesterday met flat rejection by the Faculty Administrative Board.

Both the Committee on Houses and the Dean of Freshman had recommended rejection of the appeal, which was signed by 1100 upperclassmen and endorsed by the Student Council.

The Board's action thus represents a dead end for this fall's drive to allow lady guests in the Houses as early as 1 p.m. on weekdays. According to several Masters, it also means that no change in the College's parietal rules is likely within the next few years.

"We were careful to study not only the present petition but any other requests that might come up in the near future," explained Elliott Perkins '23 of Lowell.

Announcing the Board's decision yesterday, Dean Leighton said that he considers the issue involed to be "not. . . one of social maturity but rather a question of the most effective use of resources for educational purposes."

Most Masters seemed to agree that the main argument against the 1 p.m. weekday permission was that it would distract too many students who wanted to study in the afternoon from doing so.