HUC Will Press Longer Parietals

The nine Masters are to receive a letter this morning from the Harvard Undergraduate Council requesting new, much-extended parietal hours in the Houses--noon to midnight, Sunday through Friday, and noon to 1 a.m. on Saturday.

A surprisingly militant HUC has decided to wage a determined campaign for extended parietals and to press the Committee on the Houses to take up the issue in two weeks at its first formal meeting of the year.

The Council's parietal proposal is almost identical to one made last Spring by three Lowell House students. The Committee on the Houses refused to act on the proposal at that time although polls in five Houses showed 90% of the students favored the extension.

The HUC voted Monday night to hold another poll next week--this one collegewide--to demonstrate to the Masters the extent of student support for the parietal support.

Begins Discussion

Craig Stewart '68 initiated the HUC's Monday night parietal discussion, stating it was time to "quit asking for just another hour." (The HUC last Fall negotiated a 4-hour parietal extension--8 p.m. to midnight on Friday. It was the first major change in parietal hours since 1954.)

"We live in a pretty damned artificial environment when Sunday through Thursday you can't even talk to a girl and Friday and Saturday you don't want to wast time talking," Stewart said.

The discussion touched often on the question of student power in general. Many members of the Council view parietals as just one of a constellation of issues in the college about which students have too little decision-making power.

Mobilize Students

Some hoped the parietal issue might mobilize the Harvard student body into an effective base for student power.

John Palazzo '69, not a member of the HUC, suggested to the Council that it "ignore the Committee on Housing" and adopt "civil disobedience" to force abolishment of parietals. The HUC considered momentarily the effect of a mass "sleep-in" after parietals one Sunday night.

But John Crocker '68 dismissed the idea because "the Harvard student body is too apathetic."

Richard T. Gill '48, Master of Leverett House, said last night tha "any proposal presented by the HUC would naturally receive attention from the Masters." He added that any major extension of parietals would come only after "very, very considerable discussion."