Graduates Complain Noise Disturbs Center

Thin walls and little soundproofing cause seven Graduate Center dormitories to resemble "sound chambers," students charged yesterday on the eve of the $3,000,000 structure's fifth anniversary.

The Center's designer, Walter Gropius, professor of Architecture, emeritus, disclosed yesterday that the modern buildings could have been soundproofed for an additional $26,000.

Gropius said that he knew the sound-proofing was faulty when the Center was designed. "I wrote the authorities for the right to plaster the walls," he declared, "but the project was on a tight budget and I could not get permission."

Although all of the students questioned complained about the soundproofing, none have brought the matter before the Graduate Student Council.

Live With Situation

"We just have to live with the situation as it stands. If it was possible, however, the students would like something done to stop the noise. Those who really cannot stand it take an apartment elsewhere," Cliffe D. Joel, 3G, Secretary of the Council, said. Joel, who has lived in the Center for three years, added that he was satisfied with his room.

Residents in Dana, Ames, Story, Holmes, Shaw, James, and Richards Halls agreed that the physical conditions of the rooms are satisfactory.

"I like the efficient use of space and the convenience, but sometimes I feel as if I am living in a sound chamber," Lawrence Y. Goldberg 3L stated.

This opinion almost echoed a statement by Livingston Hall, vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law. "Students realize that when you build dormitories, you do the best you can with the money you have. They are very fine for the students in them. We think they are a great bargain," he commented.

The rooms rent from $275 to $315 per year. This price range is substantially below rents in the undergraduate Houses and dormitories.

Hall said that no one has ever suggested a feasible method of sound-proofing the dormitories economically. A soundproofing paint could be applied to the walls and weather stripping doors added, but most of the noise does not come from the halls and painting would not be very effective in blocking the sound coming through the walls, he stated.

But there is still a possibility that the buildings could be plastered now, designer Gropius said. He could not estimate the cost, however, and admitted that the work would cause great inconvenence.

Although poor acoustics in the dormitories depreciates the value of the Center, the attitude of the 575 graduate Law and Arts and Sciences students supports a passage in the dedication speech of Paul H. Buck, then Provost of the University, five years ago today.

At that time he said, "The Center opens a new world to our students and adds a perspective to our teaching."