Dunster Moves to Form Parietals Study Committee

The Dunster House Committee will take action tonight to form a student committee to discuss College parietal regulatices with members of the administration.

At a meeting tonight of the Harvard Council for Undergraduate Affairs, it is expected that a Dunster representative, Reed Ellis '65, will propose the formation of a committee made up of three House Committee chairmen and the chairman of the HCUA.

The Dunster move is the first organized student response to statements made last week by Dean Watson indicating that the Dean's Office is thinking seriously of reducing the number of hours during which men may entertain women in dormitory rooms.

The statements touched off a wave of alarmed discussion in the Houses, though many students refused to believe that stories carrying the dean's remarke were of substance.

According to Watson, social practices at the College "must follow the customs of the time and the community." He has expressed fear that, under the present parietal rules, Harvard may "play a leading role in relaxing the moral code of college youth."

John A. Purvis '64, chairman of the Dunster House Committee, said the Committee "questions Dean Watson's assumptions. Just because a few students abuse the privileges they are given does not mean that all of them do, and it should not mean that these privileges should be taken away from all of them," he said.

"It would be unfortunate if the privilege of entertaining a date in a natural setting were taken away because of vague suspicions," Purvis added.

In another move, the Dunster House Committee and the Interhouse Social Committee are expected to ask the HCUA to support them in petitioning the administration for an extension of House parietal hours until 12 midnight on the Friday, Oct. 25, of Dartmouth Weekend.