College parties will soon be able to stay open later, if the Undergraduate Council gets its way--and the outlook is promising.

Members of the council spoke with Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 and a number of House masters at yesterday's meeting of the Committee on House Life (CHL), hoping to gain support for a proposal to allow House parties to remain open for one hour longer than their current 1 a.m. curfew.

In what Lewis termed a "receptive discussion," House masters voiced their general support for the idea.

"I'm in favor of extending party hours, at least experimentally, for a year," said Eliot House Master Lino Pertile.

Council member Brian R. Smith '02 kicked off the discussion with a brief presentation, explaining to the administration what the council sees as the reasons for extending party hours.

Most compelling, according to Smith, was a survey of undergraduate preferences that the council recently conducted.

The survey suggests that nearly 90 percent of undergraduates favor extending the College's party curfew.

It also purports that roughly 66 percent of undergraduates do not go to sleep until 3 a.m. on weekends.