HCUA Unit Asks Longer Yard Hours

The HCUA's Committee on Freshman Parietals will recommend "a limited extension of parietal hours on Saturday nights" in the Yard at Tuesday's meeting of the Council.

It will suggest that "any suite of rooms in a freshman dormitory have the opportunity for the extension of parietal hours until midnight on Saturday upon application to the Proctor." Though these extensions would not be limited numerically, they would be contingent upon good behavior and good academic and social standing.

Set up this fall before the "sex scandal," the committee was instructed to make a study of the freshman parietals situation. Committee members interviewed University officials and freshman Proctors, and tabulated questionnaires filled out by 800 freshmen--about two-thirds of the class.

One of the major findings was that a majority of freshmen disagree with Dean Monro's description of alleged sexual excesses in the College, and believe that "freshmen at Harvard are obliged to mature in all areas, and therefore the Dean has no right to interfere with a student's emotional life."

The committee also found that parietal hours are not much used by freshmen (the average freshman entertains female company about once every two to three weeks), that infractions of the rules are few and unintentional, and that "wild parties simply do not exist."

The most frequent student suggestion for improving the system was the elimination of the sign-in sheet, "since it serves no useful purpose and is a nuisance." A majority of freshmen also blasted entry parties, calling them "too large for enjoyment and too noisy for non-participants."

A desire for lengthened parietal hours was nearly universal, with some students requesting the total elimination of restrictions on entertaining women.

Proctors questioned agreed in calling the entry party system "generally unsatisfactory." The committee reported that a majority of proctors were unsympathetic to the freshmen's request for lengthened parietals, but that "a significant minority" approved of individual extensions granted by proctors as called for is the system the committee will recommend.