'Cliffe Names Oettinger As House Master

Anthony G. Oettinger '51, professor of Linguistics and Applied Mathematics, will become the new Master of East House at Radcliffe it was announced yesterday.

Oettinger, an expert in the field of computer research, has been on a leave of absence in Washington during the past year. He has been working on United States rocket projects.

Oettinger will return to Cambridge to take up his new job in September. He succeeds Kenneth V. Thimann, Higgins Professor of Biology, who has been Master since the inception of the Radcliffe House system, but is retiring because his wife has recently had several serious operations.

The Master's wife plays a substantial role in the life of the Radcliffe houses. Mrs. Oettinger is an alumna of Radcliffe and served as a freshman adviser at the 'Cliffe.

Thimann said last night that the House system "now seems to be firmly established at Radcliffe," but he warned that much must be done to make the Houses really effective units.

Masters Should Live In

He said the most serious problems he has found as a Master are "the existence of separate dormitories with separate identities" and the "absence of a Master's residence within each House unit."

Thimann admitted that "it will probably take a long time for the dorms to lose their identities," but stressed that greater unity must be established within each House, if the system is to work well. He urged that "connecting junctions" be built between the dormitories that make up each of the three Houses.

Thimann also stressed that the Master should live in the House. He pointed out that some Masters don't live anywhere near their Houses and noted that the Oettingers will probably have to continue living in Belmont.

The retiring Master said that girls were often more likely to seek out the freshman adviser in each dorm for help than to come to the Master.