OTHER COLLEGES

Other colleges have tried a wide varsity of rules and regulations to cope with the problem of student's women guests. Most of them are stricter on the subject than Harvard; few allow women in student rooms at any time.

But in most cases, the circumstances are different. Nearly every college has either fraternities or some rooms or buildings reserved exclusively for social functions. In these, weekend deadlines vary around midnight or 1 a.m., though there is usually some provision that chaperones be present and that entertainment be confined to well-populated areas.

In the Ivy League, there is a strict dichotomy between the Big Three plus Dartmouth, which allow women in rooms, and Brown, Cornell, and Columbia, which do not. Yale's and Princeton's rules are similar to Harvard's. Princeton allows women in rooms until 7, until 9 in the upperclass eating clubs (later when there is a chaperoned event), and until 9 in the underclass "Campus Center" which in conceded to be inadequate for proper entertainment. A recent proposal to extend room permission to 9 was defeated by the Undergraduate Council before ever being presented to the Administration.

Yale also has a 7 p.m. deadline, but its College-masters and Campus police are inclined to avert their eyes when minor infractions come to light. Especially on weekends, parties are allowed to run considerably beyond the closing hour.

Dartmouth has, in addition to its fraternities, a provision for entertaining women in rooms with the permission of the Dormitory Committee. This permission is ordinarily limited to the hours between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., but an occasional mid-night deadline is set for big weekends.

There is general dissatisfaction with the situation at both Columbia and Brown, Brown's dormitories even lost their lounges two years ago because of breakage of furniture and alleged "sexual misconduct." Columbia's lounges are unpopular; though they are open mill 12, they are devoid of all amenities, and from 10:30 on there is a guard who makes periodic close inspections. Cornell seems to be happy with Williard Straight Hall lounges and its fraternities; there has been no agitation for any kind of room permission.

In startling contrast to all the other colleges in this area is M.I.T., just a few hundred yards down the river. There, women are allowed in rooms until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 9 on Sundays. There are no requirements concerning chaperones or signing in. As the rules put it: "We do not attempt to describe by means of rules what behavior should prevail when girls are present as guests. The only official request is that the students conduct themselves in a manner acceptable to other guests and to the other students in the dormitory . . ."

But this attitude is the exception. Most colleges share the sentiments of Brandeis, which does not allow women in men's dormitories at any time because "men's bedrooms open off the men's common rooms."