Wellesley Parents Inactive on Charge

The Wellesley College Parents' Association failed to take any action at a meeting Saturday on charges that the college promoted sexual promiscuity among its students, a Wellesley spokesman said yesterday.

At the meeting, John W. Galbraith, the father of a Wellesley senior, reported the response to a letter he sent March 31 to all students' parents in which he said sexual immorality was being taught "24 hours a day, seven days a week" through unrestricted dormitory visiting hours for male guests.

Galbraith was unavailable for comment yesterday, but in an interview with Sharon K. Collins, the editor of The Wellesley News, he said he received 500 responses from 2000 letters mailed to parents. He said about 80 per cent of the replies supported his position.

The letter contained a petition on which parents could affirm or deny they are "opposed to the sexual freedom permitted in the dormitories."

Moral Education

It also calls for at least one dormitory to be set aside "in which men are not permitted in the girls' living quarters...as a first step for sexual morality at Wellesley."

Because the parents' organization took no action, Galbraith can now only refer his charges to the board of trustees of Wellesley, which has already affirmed support for the administration in the controversy, Alla O'Brian, a Wellesley College spokesman, said yesterday.

No Revision

The Wellesley administration will continue to maintain its policy of 24-hour visiting hours in effect since 1970, O'Brian said.

Collins said yesterday that Galbraith told her he did not consult students before writing the letter to their parents because it would be similar to the Wellesley judiciary board consulting plagiarists before it passed stronger penalties for that offense.

When asked in the interview why he waited until now to make the charges of immorality, Galbraith, whose daughter is a senior, said he could overlook the situation only for so long, but it had come to a point where someone had to take a stand.