Marriage Wreaks Havoc Among University Secretaries as Local Scholars Take Note

Keeping the supply of University secretaries at a constant level is one of the bardest and most constant problems the Personnel department has to face. These harassed employers don't bother to keep a record of just how long their employees last or why they leave, but know only too well that they are called upon to make well over one hundred replacements each year in the College secretarial staff alone.

Marriage, of course, is the chief cause of this colossal mortality rate. Ten thousand men of Harvard seem to take far more than a passing interest in the bevy of intellectual beauties that make the administrative wheels turn.

No Evil Designs

From what the girls have to say, it is hard to believe that they have any marital designs on Harvard men. When closely grilled, most would not admit any overwhelming desire for Harvard's sons in preference to the Man In The Street. In fact, the most striking thing about all their coy answers was that they really couldn't decide just what they really did or didn't like in men, much less why.

Miss Dot Holz of the Student Employment Office admitted that she preferred local talent to that of any other college, but skirted around the subject by saying that she really was much more interested in getting "a four or five room unfurnished apartment than a Harvard man." But when pressed, she consented to specify what type of man need apply: "Crew hair-cuts and bow-ties are definitely out," she said. "I like tall, blond-haired men that wear tweeds and smoke pipes."

On the same subject, Miss Bunny Enright of the Veteran's Book Office expressed her liking for the "gentleman-scholar type," defining him as one who wears grey flannels and shirts with button-down collars.

Miss Enright, an ex-model who claimed she was placed at Harvard by her secretarial school, warmed up somewhat more on the subject of college men. "Certainly, I would rather date Harvard men," she said. "They have such variety--they're men of distinction, like the Lord Calvert ads. They have that certain sureness that other men lack."

Always Gentlemanly

Miss Betty Groth of the Freshman Housing Office was even more enthusiastic. Taking a long range view of things, she offered the opinion that "they're much improved since the war; they used to be far more studious. Now they're always gentlemen, and what's more they always throw the best parties."

A more typical married-woman's view-point was offered by Mrs. Inez Muhleman, a southerner whose husband is at the Business School. "No, my husband isn't jealous," she claimed, "but then he always has something he can hold over me when I catch him eyeing a passing blonde." A check 15 minutes later found Mr. Muhleman standing behind his wife's desk, looking over all comers.