Due to financial trouble and hostile relations with its graduate board, the D.U. Club has not yet opened its doors this year and members say they doubt the club will hold a fall punch.

Club members say they are shocked and chagrined by the D.U. graduate board's attempt to implement new limitations on the final club. The proposed restrictions include a 2 a.m. curfew and a ban on kegs. Graduate board members also want to increase dues, current members say.

Though graduate board members could not be reached for comment, current student members said yesterday that they consider the proposed changes unfair.

As a result, all of the current undergraduate members of the club have rendered themselves temporarily inactive. The students no longer frequent the club or pay dues, effectively closing the organization.

"Under the circumstances, members can't use the club they joined," D.U. president Matt B. Hilles '96 said. "I'd say this has created definite hostility towards the grad board."

Although there have been several meetings between club officials and the graduate board to try and work out a compromise to the standoff over the proposed new rules, talks are currently stalled.

The chair of the D.U.'s graduate board, Louis I. Kane '53, is currently travelling, and communication with undergraduates has been severed, members said.

"[The graduate board] doesn't take us seriously," said D.U. VicePresident David M. Sprinkle '96. "They're not keeping us informed, and it's frustrating not knowing what is going on."

Members say changes initially demanded by the graduate board this summer included a 100 percent increase in monthly club dues--from $75 to $150.

D.U. officials had strongly negative reactions to that proposal and fought successfully for the reduction of dues from the proposed $150 to $100.

The graduate board also proposed an increase in punch fees, making the proposed amount roughly equal to current dues, according to D.U. Treasurer Dan R. Vereb '96.

"We figured, as officers, what would be doable for us is no more than $100 dollars. A lot of the guys can't afford to pay more than $100, so we told them that we would be okay raising dues to 100, but no more," Sprinkle said.

"The D.U. was one of the least expensive of the final clubs, and that's why it attracted many of the current members," Vereb explained. "Financial need led the grad board to try and make [our] expenses like [those of] the other clubs."

The graduate board also required that the club close down from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. The rule about the club's hours, however, is currently under negotiation, members say.

According to Hilles, the D.U.'s undergraduate members unanimously agreed that they would become active members again if the club remained open after 2 a.m. The undergraduate members suggested that admittance to the club after 2 a.m. be limited to members only in order to make it more acceptable to the graduate board.

"Limited access for members only would be great," Hilles said. "We just don't want to have it shut down completely."