The Harvard Parking Office has hired five crimson-clad meter maids in an effort to clamp down on widespread parking violations.

The parking office has also created a three-man board to hear appeals on parking tickets.

The meter maids will patrol the 71 Harvard parking lost beginning next week. They will have no police powers other than to issue parking tickets.

The new plan is designed to supplement University police patrols, James T. Sullivan, parking manager. said yesterday. Last year the Harvard police issued over 40,000 parking tickets. But Sullivan said an enormous number of violators escaped ticketing because of police manpower shortages.

The meter maids are officially designated as "parking monitors" to avoid discriminating against men.

"We were told we might be in conflict with Federal fair-employment laws if we called them 'meter maids,' " Sullivan said. Male applicants will be considered if any openings develop, he added.

The new system of monitors and appeals is an attempt to enforce the parking rules more fairly. Sullivan said. "A good many faculty and staff don't pay their tickets, while the poor students get it on their term bills."