The Harvard man with his venerated House system can be just about as solitary as he pleases. But at Radcliffe, where corridors replace stair-wells, where individual rooms replace suites, and where communal bathrooms are the rule, a girl is virtually forced to be sociable.

Although a Radcliffe dormitory may well suffer from what Elliot Perkins '23, master of Lowell Houses, calls "the uncivilizing effect of long corridors," it may also be said to have the "civilizing" effect of forcing sociability on its inhabitants. For from the moment she rises to brush her teeth in the morning until the time she signs in late at night, the Cliffite is constantly made aware of her communal existence.

"Committed To Dorms"

In some respects, Radcliffe has imitated the Harvard House System. The proposed dormitory for 1958, for example, will include rooms for resident tutors. But in reality, the new hall will be no closer to a House, in the Harvard sense, than are the present eight dorms just off Garden Street. For as President Wilbur K. Jordan recently emphasized, "Redcliffe is committed to a dormitory system which cannot be adapted to a House plan."

A Radcliffe room is not a suite with living room, bedroom, and private bath. Instead, it is in most cases a small single or double room designed for both sleeping and studying. Consequently, a Radcliffe girl who desires seclusion must put a sign on her door saying "Do not distrub (except for telephone calls)" or "Dead End."

Not even within the privacy of her own room, however, can a Radcliffe girl do exactly as she pleases without regard to others. Although her roommate might not mind how sloppy she is, the Cliffe-dweller can't escape the eagle eye of the proctor who comes around for a weekly inspection. And under no circumstances can she keep an alcoholic beverage in her room.

Noisy Corridors

Many times daily the twin forces of necessity and custom force the Cliffite to enter into the communal life of her dormitory. In most of the dorms, a rising bell at 7:30 a.m. first awakes the residents to the fact that they are living in a communal building. In addition, fire regulations forbid the Cliffite to smoke or cook in her room, thus forcing her to take cigarette and coffee breaks with her fellows in her floor smoker or kit-chenette.

The no-smoking-in-rooms rule leads indirectly to a major problem of the "uncivilizing" long corridors-noise in the halls. Since the halls in most dorms are one of the few places where smoking is permitted, girls are inclined to take their cigarette and chatter breaks outside of someone's room.

The result necessitates an elaborate system of quiet hours and proctoring. Theoretically, during quiet hours (which comprise practically the whole of every weekday except for short periods around lunch and dinner time), talking in the halls is forbidden and musical instruments cannot be played. The enforcement of these rules, however, varies with the dorms and proctors. Oftern the noise level forces the diligent worker to take refuge in the basement study room.

Study Room Euphemisms

There she tries to disguise her actual occupation by using a whimsical form of nomenclature to designate these underground study retreats. Most of the dorms call them "game rooms," and legend has it that one Barnard Hall freshman arrived, chess set in hand, because she had heard that the dorm had a "game room."

Actually, however, these retreats have seldom been the sight of any game more athletic than trying to skim and digest a 400-page book in an hour. Since Moors calls its study room "the bike room" and Holmes terms its "the lounge," one is in-clined to suspect that the Cliffite is indeed sensitive about her reputation as a grind.

Even getting telephone calls at Radcliffe, as most Harvard men know, is not an entirely personal matter. The Cliffite receives calls through the dorm bell system, an elaborate array of buzzers, wires, and little colored lights, which operate daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and slightly later on Sundays and holidays. After hours, the bell desk turns into a pumpkin, and the Radcliffe Cinderella, unless she has a private phone, is virtually cut off from the outside world.

Communal Work Program