Hilles Library Limits Evening Hours for Men

Beginning Saturday, Hilles Library will be closed to all men between 5 and 7:30 p.m.

Men who have entered the building before 5 p.m. will be permitted to stay during the two-and-a-half hour period. But from 5 until 7:30, no males may enter, Mary I. Bunting, president of Radcliffe, announced at a Radcliffe Government Association meeting yesterday.

Mrs. Bunting made the decision after a 'Cliffe-wide referendum this week showed that 40 per cent of all Cliffies wanted to change the present open-door policy at Hiles.

Over half of those wishing to change voted to ban all male graduate students. But Mrs. Bunting said yesterday that the continuous checking of bursar's cards necessary to enforce this rule would irritate library users.

Grad Students Remain

She also said that exclusion of graduate students is "much less in keeping with the policy of the whole university" than her proposal, since no other university library has restrictions aimed at a limited group of students.

"In all other libraries, Radcliffe has been welcomed," Mrs. Bunting stated, "and I hate to restrict Hilles at all." Hopefully, she continued, this will be a temporary measure, effective for this reading and exam period only.

The restriction, put into effect Saturday, said Mrs.Bunting, will make sure that girls who come to the library before 7:30 will get seats, yet at the same time does not discourage men from coming altogether.

No 'Dating Bureau'

Some of the RGA representatives objected to Mrs. Bunting's proposal, saying Cliffies' dates should be allowed in the library at all times. "We are not a dating bureau," answered Mrs. Bunting.

Mrs.Bunting made two other suggestions which she hopes will make studying during reading and exam period more tolerable.

"Cigar-smoking should be prohibited," she told applauding RGA representatives.

Her second proposal was to prevent people from "saving" desk and chairs by putting books and jackets on them. If people plan to be gone for only a few minutes, she said, they can leave a note stating the time they left.