Radcliffe Girl Battles Grounds Dept. Over Decorations

Radcliffe authorities have instructed Jane H. Cummin '66 that unless she dismantles the present furnishings of her room by Tuesday the college will take action.

Miss Cummin, who lives in a single in Briggs Hall, has placed seven black shower curtains around the walls and gold tin foil on the ceiling. Two black umbrellas hang on one wall, and green fringe from a hibiscus tree in the window.

The Tuesday deadline was set by Ralph B. Gates, director of buildings and grounds for Radcliffe College, in a letter he sent to Miss Cummin this week. It was the third piece of correspondence between them this month.

In a first letter, dated Jan. 8, Mr. Gates told her that an inspection over Christmas vacation had revealed that her room was a fire hazard. Miss Cummin answered the next day, saying that she had tested the drapery and tin foil and found them not flammable, but that she was willing to spray the entire room with fireproofing if they wished.

Mr. Gates replied to that letter this week, saying that "This is not a matter for arguing or discussion."

Miss Cummin suspects that the College's real objection may be aesthetic. Before she decorated it, she said, the room was a "stringy, dirty hair, rainy Monday morning grey." Miss Cummin, who has offered to do any fireproofing the College requires, says she enjoys studying in the room, and that she likes to wake up and see a red blossom of the hibiscus tree reflected on the gold ceiling.