Masters to Discourage Statements by Houses

Harvard's nine Masters have informally agreed to discourage their Senior Common Rooms from issuing statements on public issues.

Their decision was prompted by the issuance of the first known statement of that kind--a Dunster House Senior Common Room statement issued three weeks ago which condemned 2-S student draft deferments as "preferential."

Masters yesterday said that their agreement was not a "reproach" to the Dunster Senior Common Room, and would actually not prevent more statements in the future if any House's tutors really pushed for them.

The Masters discussed the subject at a meeting in Winthrop House last Tuesday. They decided then that Senior Common Rooms--all of a House's tutors and associates--were inappropriate organizations for the issuance of public statements because:

* they are not set up to deliberate and comment on general issues, as a formal "Robert's rules" organization might be.

* there is a danger that Common Room statements would often be unrepresentative of their total membership.

Five Masters interviewed yesterday all pointed out that in the Dunster House case only 12 House associates actually voted to condemn 2-S (in a 12-4 vote) while the Common Room's official membership was about 60.

On Voting Bodies

"There are no rules for voting [In Common Rooms]," Richard T. Gill '48, Master of Leverett House, said. "I wouldn't know what a quorum is. You have to be set up as a voting body before you can vote as a body."

The Masters' agreement was criticized last night by Sanford V. Levinson, tutor in Dunster House and a backer of the Dunster House 2-S statement, who called it an "end run" around the basic issues.

"I'm sorry they're making this decision in private instead of releasing a public statement of their own expressing opposition," Levinson said. "At least that would focus discussion on the subject."

All Masters contacted yesterday pointed out there is actually little a Master can do to prevent his Common Room from taking a public stand, other than express his personal disapproval.

A Master's Preogatives

As one Master put it, he could only point out the action as inappropriate, make sure that all members of the Common Room had an opportunity to take part in discussions and any possible vote, and then would have to let it go through.