Dunster Votes Down Door Dropping Ban

The Dunster House Committee on Wednesday voted to maintain the right of student publications to deliver their products to each student's door, contrary to a report published in The Crimson yesterday,

Meeting to consider a proposal from Master Karel F. Liem that Dunster restrict delivery of unsolicited publications, the student committee recommended giving publications the option of depositing copies at a central rack or continuing to door-drop.

The plan, described by committee members as a compromise that would limit waste and inconvenience for students, will be forwarded to Liem, who has already said he "will follow what the house committee decides." The committee will vote on implementation procedures in two weeks, said committee chair Joshua Young '90.

House members had complained that door-to-door delivery violated students' privacy, comparing delivery to "televisions that can't be turned off."

And Lee B. Wexler '92 framed the question in environmental terms, saying, "We don't have an obligation to proliferate waste in entryways."

The committee attempted to find a "happy medium between still allowing publishers to drop in the house while at the same time looking more at the environmental issue," Young said yesterday.

Student press representatives had expressed dismay at the possibility of a door-drop ban. Many weekly campus publications depend on mass circulation to keep up advertising revenue.

"All the major free publication on campus know that door-to-door delivery is required or there is no point in publishing," said Adam R. Cohen '90, president of the liberal monthly Perspective.

Harvard Advocate President Mallay Charters '90 called an across-the-board ban "misguided."

The Dunster motion, proposed by Rosemary B. Quigley '92 and Brian R. Hecht '92, recommends also that recycling bins be placed in each entry, and that Dunster residents write student publishers encouraging use of the central delivery rack.

"We are trying to cooperate with the publishers on campus," Young said yesterday.

The committee voted down three other proposals, two of which would have restricted door-dropping to some extent, either by allowing students to "opt out" of delivery routes or by banning delivery and forcing publications to run subscription campaigns.

The winning proposal received 17 votes, beating out the six votes for requiring subscription campaigns and three votes for "opt-out".

The Dunster motion averted the controversy raised earlier this year when masters at Kirkland and North House restricted door-to-door delivery. There, publishers and masters negotiated a settlement in which wire baskets would be placed on doors for paper delivery.