No-Slacks Rule:' Cliffe Anachronism

Some rules never die.

Year after year, the Radcliffe Redbook informs Cliffies that "skirts and dresses must be worn to classes." But inquiries yesterday showed that no one knows who made the rule originally, why it was made, or how it is supposed to be enforced.

Although many girls wear pants despite the no-slacks restriction, the rule has been a part of Radcliffe heritage as long as anyone in the Dean's office can remember, and no one feels the need to change it.

This is partly because changing it would be too much trouble, explains RGA Vice President Anastasia Kucharski '68. To remove the rule from the Redbook would require the approval of both the Radcliffe legislature and the College Council. "Since nobody pays any attention to the rule, nobody is bothered by it enough to take it up with us," she said.

The rule lingers, too, as a "gesture of courtesy" to professors, who, the Radcliffe administration feels, would prefer not to have girls wear slacks to their classes. But very few professors read the Radcliffe Redbook and the girls in slacks appear regularly anyway.

Hazy Status

A secretary in the Dean's office "guesses" that the rule was made for the benefit of the faculty and that he rule's enforcement was then turned over to the professors without letting them know it. This accounts for the rule's hazy status, she said.

Even though a professor theoretically has the right to bar a girl slacks-wearer from class, it is most unlikely that any would ever do so, judging from some faculty reactions yesterday.

Professor Richard T. Gill '46 said that he had absolutely no objections to girls wearing slacks to his classes. Other professors, who said they would prefer to see the girls in dresses, said nevertheless, that they would never kick anyone out because of what she was wearing.