Students agreed wholeheartedly with Thomas' sentiments.

"Women were sleeping over all the time by the time they abolished pari- etals," recalled Kenneth J. Barnes '70. "They[the parietals] seemed sort of silly."

In the fall of 1969, the administrationofficially recognized this de facto part of lifeat Harvard and Radcliffe.

Confronted with a petition of 1041 signatures(1000 out of 1200 first-year students and 41 outof 47 proctors signed), Dean of Freshmen F. Skiddyvon Stade '38 put an end to the oft-violatedparietals on October 30.

Earlier that month, the Radcliffe Union ofStudents, led by Ellen Messer '69, had wrested thepower of parietals away from the administrationand secured dorm autonomy--a move whichessentially abolished any remaining limits uponcoed living that parietals might have set.

The termination of parietals symbolized thefrequent elimination and reorganization of campusrules and institutions that characterized the turnof the decade.

The administration seemed to be recognizingthat it could no longer officially enforce ruleswhich many students had abandoned years before.

Changing Times

While the general campus mood seemed to welcomesweeping change, the impending marriage of Harvardand Radcliffe induced smaller alterations.

Women and men could now sweat together atBriggs Cage and the Malkin Athletic Center. Theycould eat together after classes. And during thespring semester of 1970, they could even convenein Radcliffe bathrooms to brush their teethtogether.

Deborah A. Frank '70 says she remembers themale-female exchange program as "great fun."

"We were lucky," she says."We got a group ofguys who were musicians--they played thebanjo--and on Saturday night, when the Radcliffegirls who stayed in were served their regular milkand cookies, we would have regular hootenannieswith these boys."

Frank emphasizes the fact that college rulesrelaxed over the span of her years at Radcliffe.

"When we got there the first year, there wereall sorts of strict hours, and every time we had aman with us we had to shout out 'man on thefloor," she says. "I did that to my kid brotherand he almost died of embarrassment. Men living inthe dorms certainly eliminated any formal tonethat was left."

Institutionalizing sexual liberation didn'tnecessarily bring increased sensitivity.

One wild winter night, first-year men spilledout of the Yard and tumbled up to the Quad wherethey shouted "Cliffies need sex!" and "Statutoryrape!"