Straw Poll Indicates Little Support For Ridding Hilles Lib of All Boys

Cliffies seem to like having boys in Hilles, even if they do take up most of the room.

An unofficial poll, conducted by the library's night staff this week, revealed that, out of 90 girls, not one favored total expulsion of men from Hilles.

The poll was held to aid the Administration in planning for reading and exam periods, when it is expected that Hilles will be used to capacity. The library's day staff has been investigating the problem of overcrowding, and making periodic spot checks on the number of people using Hilles at all hours of the day.

Roger Lowenstein 2L, one of the poll's organizers, felt that the opening of Lamont to Cliffies has "removed much of the bile" that caused the girls to complain about the superabundance of males in their library during the more crowded hours.

"This poll was conducted at a peak time, when the library was filled to near capacity," Lowenstein said. "We observed that over half the students were boys." Yet the 90 girls polled were fairly evenly divided between "partial exclusion" and "no restrictions," the latter having a slight edge of 8-10 votes.

Violent Opposition

Of those Cliffies in favor of some restrictions, only about 10 per cent voted to limit the Library's use to boys escorted by Cliffies. "Most of the others were violently opposed to such a step," Lowenstein stressed.

Many of the girls who voted for partial restrictions liked the idea of sealing off the whole third floor of the Library to boys during Reading Period and exams. Others complained of not being able to get reserve books and favored making the Open Reserve Section entirely off-limits to boys.

Some Cliffies felt that the new Library should be kept open 24 hours a day; others suggested that there is plenty of room on the second and third floors for additional furniture.