Lowell Drive For Kitchen: Dim Prospect

Lowell House will probably not gain its own independent kitchen, University officials have indicated. Both Arthur D. Trottenberg, assistant dean of the Faculty, and Elliot. Perkins '23, Master of Lowell, denied the Lowell House Committee claim that a private kitchen would save at least $20,000 in operating costs.

Trottenberg branded the Committee's estimates as unrealistic and said that "horrendous sums of money" would be tied up in such a move. He stated that any change in the present dining arrangement would have to be made simultaneously for all Houses on the central kitchen system--Eliot, Kirkland Leverett, Lowell, and Winthrop.

Adding that the Committee should make clear what specific changes it wanted, Trottenberg said he would welcome "constructive comments" at any time. The House Committee had endorsed on March 29 a motion asking the University to "consider the abolition of drastic reformation of the central kitchen set-up in light of wide-spread dissatisfaction."

Perkins agreed that any changes that might take place would affect all the Houses and concluded that "the chance of Lowell's getting off the central kitchen are slim." Echoing Trottenberg's comments, Perkins said that the problem involved in installing and operating an independent kitchen "is a matter of capital, since it would require a building project of considerable dimension."

However, Perkins said, "I was pleased by the inventiveness and the vitality shown by the Committee." The Master added that he had not expressed his own opinion--pro or con--on the Committee's original recommendations to Trottenberg.