A group of about 30 graduate students and teaching fellows last night began a petition drive calling on President Bok to extend the hours of the Lehman Hall cafeteria so that graduate students from different departments can have a place to meet.

Members of the Harvard Radical Union, meeting last night in William James Hall, drafted a letter to President Bok stating that "Harvard University has long been neglecting the needs of its graduate students."

"Departmental specialization, competitiveness and isolation tend to keep us apart," the letter continues.

"As a step towards creating the potential for a graduate community, we demand that the University provide the space in Lehman Hall for students to meet and the means to extend the hours of the cafeteria until midnight weekdays and from noon to midnight Saturdays," the letter says.

Students in the various departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will circulate this letter as a petition and then send it to President Bok.

Jean Mayer, master of Dudley House, said last night that he was "sympathetic" to the idea of keeping Lehman Hall cafeteria open for longer hours, but that "the question must be looked at from the point of view of finances."

Getting Together

He said, however, that he would search for someplace where graduate students could meet.

President Bok could not be reached for comment last night.

This year, for the first time, about 100 first-year graduate students are members of Dudley House, of which Lehman Hall is a part.

The cafeteria there is presently open from 8:00 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thrusday and until 4:00 p.m. Friday.