How Phyllis Was Won

The authorities of MIT discouraged privacy for mixed-sex couples. MIT didn't know where to put its female students; some were housed across the river, at 120 Bay State Road, and then the university opened up a section of Blexley Hall. Phyllis's room in either dormitory was out of bounds, but there were chintz-covered sofas at 120 Bay Street Road, and corners of the big reception room where the lights - stately floor lamps with pleated shades and three-way bulbs - could be dimmed to coziness. Students would lounge and lie in the semi-dark with their brush-cuts and perms; the boys then wore white bucks and narrow rep ties, the Ivy look not yet yielded to the blue-jeaned geek look, and the girls wore single-strand pearls and pastel sweaters whose wool seemed to melt in the hand.

Source:

Villages, John Updike, 2004