Eighty-one students and faculty have signed a petition protesting the planned May 14 closing of the Radcliffe gym and asking that the facility be kept open until the end of reading period.

The petition was circulated after the announcement last week that the Radcliffe gym would close a week earlier than usual and after rumors that the gym might close permanently.

Considers Abandoning It

Robert B. Watson, director of athletics, said yesterday that the gym was closing early for "financial reasons" and confirmed that his department was considering abandoning it.

"At this stage I wouldn't say it's serious," Watson said, "although when the Soldiers Field pool opens in the fall of 1977 the athletic department may withdraw from the Radcliffe gym. Then the higher authorities will have to decide what to do with the building," he added.

Mary Gault, a fifth-year Comparative Literature graduate student, said yesterday she is protesting the early closing because swimmers would then have to use the IAB pool, which she called "inconveniently located." It has "a pressured, crowded atmosphere," she added.

"Swimming tends to increase during exams so closing the Radcliffe pool will only aggravate an already impossible situation at the IAB," Gault said.

"There, the lanes are usually crowded with about five people each so that you feel like you're on a treadmill--it's a very different kind of sport than the relaxed swimming at the Radcliffe pool," she added.

Andronike E. Janus, assistant director of athletics, responded to the petition yesterday, "Unless the IAB is mobbed, we'll stick to our guns" and keep the gym shut.