Burr Fund Backs House Dean Plan

The House Dean plan will be financed by a $1,000,000 bequest from the estate of Allston Burr '89 when it goes into operation next fall, Provost Buck announced yesterday. Most of the money had originally been slated for construction of a new Varsity Club, now indefinitely postponed.

Under the plan approved in December by the University, advising will center in the Houses and Dudley Hall beginning next term. The eight senior tutors who will administer the program will be known as Allston Burr Senior Tutors.

Next fall's expansion of group tutorial in the five largest fields of concentration will also benefit from the Burr fund. Money from the bequest will go to pay the salaries of the extra tutors and senior tutors.

Burr Left $1,500,000

Burr died in January, 1949, leaving $1,500,000 in unrestricted funds to the University. In May, 1950, the Corporation announced that it would use that money to build a new Varsity Club in front of Lowell House.

The decision precipitated a violent controversy, in which over 60 percent of the student body and the Student Council came out against the project. Federal restrictions on the use of building materials, a result of the Korean crisis, forced indefinite delay on construction.

Gave Present Varsity Club

Money from the bequest was used for the Allston Burr Lecture Hall on Quincy Street, which will be completed this spring.

Burr was long active in Harvard affairs, serving as an Overseer from 1931 to 1937. In 1912 he donated the money for construction of the present Varsity Club.

Speaking of Burr, Provost Buck said yesterday, "In his own lifetime he exemplified some of the traits of character we hope to foster in our students through the Houses, our instruction, and our advising."