Brown Plans A Marriage To Pembroke

Brown University and its sister school, Pembroke, decided last week to take the step that Harvard and Radcliffe have repeatedly delayed-an official merger.

The Advisory Executive Committee of the Brown Corporation voted last Friday to approve the merger-which will be effective on July 1-recommended in mid-December by Brown president Donald F. Hornig. The entire Brown Corporation is expected to approve the merger during its regular spring meeting next June.

A single dean's office will be created through the merger to oversee the entire university and a new post of Assistant Provost will be created and filled by a woman.

The decision, through which Pembroke will cease to exist, means that there will be one registrar, one office of housing, and one administration for the now separate schools.

Brown and Pembroke have been melting together for the last several years under a situation similar to that of Harvard and Radcliffe.

Brown-Pembroke student governments merged three years ago. Housing at both schools has been coeducational for two years, and a joint Brown-Pembroke graduation was held for the first time last spring.

Pembroke has no chief administrator right now. Rosemary Pierrel resigned from her position as "dean" on December 17 to resume her duties as professor of psychology at Brown. There has never been a Pembroke "president."

Ratio

Pierrel said last November that the admissions boards of the two schools had been working toward equal male-female enrollment for some time. As a result, the male-female ratio has declined from 3 to 1 several years ago to 2.55 to 1 this year. The admissions offices, although under one director, will remain separate after the merger.

The merger has been under consideration for some time. A Pembroke Study Committee, created by Hornig in 1969 to consider a merger, submitted a report recommending merger to Hornig last fall. During September Hornig asked all administrative offices affected by the merger-then only under consideration-to submit to him a report as to how it could be most efficiently carried out.