Conant Hall Phone Booths Torn Out Following Bid for Altered Charges

Telephone workmen unexpectedly ripped out booths in Conant Hall yesterday, following a request by the Graduate Council to telephone officials for revision in the manner of charging for service.

The initial request was made three weeks ago, and asked that charges be computed annually, rather than quarterly, in order to avoid overpayment for the slack of calls in summer.

Telephones in the upper floors of the newer GSAS dermiteries, James and Richards, are classified "semi-public." Conant and Perkins phones were considered fully public, and thus were not subsidized, as were the James and Richards installations.

The seme-public rating brought with it an average yearly charge of $50, and a total bill of $250, at which the council balked and filed its request for charge revision.

Margaret I. Pfau 4G, president of the Graduate Council, pointed out last night that no reply was made to the request. Telephone authorities promised to "look into it." "We haven't heard from them since," Miss Pfau said. "We'll do our best to get phone service restored, however."

Harvey Glickman 1G, a Conant resident, yesterday circulated a petition in the dermitory which asserted the same feeling. It will be presented to the council Monday.

"If we Don't get any action, we are contemplating going to the department of public utilities," he noted.

One less-serious minded Conant resident commented: "It's an unscrupuious attempt to force all graduate students to have phores in their rooms."